NORTHERN IRELAND

Capita

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much her Department currently spends on contracts with Capita; and how much was spent in each year since 2008.

Theresa Villiers: My Department's expenditure on contracts with Capita in the current financial year is £2,169 per month.
	Because of the devolution of policing and justice functions on 12 April 2010, and subsequent reconfiguration of the Northern Ireland Office, my Department does not hold figures for the periods prior to 2010; attempting to obtain this information would incur disproportionate cost.
	For the financial years 2010/11 to 2012/13, my Department's expenditure on contracts with Capita was:
	
		
			 Capita maintenance contract expenditure 
			  £ 
			 2010/11 0 
			 2011/12 0 
			 2012/13 20,026

Legal Costs

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 
	(1)  what the 20 highest amounts paid for external legal advice by her Department were in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012; to whom such payments were paid; and for what reasons the legal advice was sought;
	(2)  how much her Department spent on external legal advice from Queen's counsel (a) between 7 May 2010 and 4 September 2012 and (b) since 4 September 2012;
	(3)  how much her Department spent on external legal advice (a) between 7 May 2010 and 4 September 2012 and (b) since 4 September 2012;
	(4)  what the highest day rate paid for external legal advice by her Department since 7 May 2010 was.

Theresa Villiers: During these periods, my Department did not pay for any external legal advice. Any legal advice required was provided by internal services.

PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMISSION

Legal Costs

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Chairman of the Public Accounts Commission 
	(1)  how much the Public Accounts Commission has spent on external legal advice (a) between 7 May 2010 and 4 September 2012 and (b) since 4 September 2012;
	(2)  how much the Public Accounts Commission has spent on external legal advice from Queen's Counsels (a) between 7 May 2010 and 4 September 2012 and (b) since 4 September 2012;
	(3)  what the highest day rate paid for external legal advice by the Public Accounts Commission since 7 May 2010 has been;
	(4)  what the 20 highest amounts paid for external legal advice by the Public Accounts Commission in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012 were; to whom such payments were made; and for what reasons the legal advice was sought.

Edward Leigh: The Public Accounts Commission has a limited number of statutory functions. Principally these are to agree the National Audits Office's strategy and budget, to appoint Non-Executive Members (other than the Chair) to the NAO's Board, and to appoint the NAO's external auditor. The Commission has not obtained any external legal advice since 2010.

WALES

Accountancy

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the names, job titles, area of work, term of appointment and civil service equivalent grade are of personnel currently seconded to his Department from the big four accountancy firms.

Stephen Crabb: The Wales Office has no personnel seconded from an accountancy firm.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Drugs

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer of 15 November 2010, Official Report, column 549W, on drugs, what progress she has made in producing the evaluation framework to support assessments of the new drugs strategy.

Jeremy Browne: holding answer 10 June 2013
	The document outlining the proposed approach to the evaluation of the 2010 Drug Strategy—the Evaluation Framework—is currently being finalised and will be published shortly.

Gating Orders

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what discussions her Department has had with the emergency services on the proposed changes to gating orders in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill;
	(2)  what consultation her Department has had with (a) local access forums and (b) Rambler associations on the proposed changes to gating orders in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill.

Jeremy Browne: In our 2011 public consultation, we sought views on the proposed rationalisation of powers to deal with antisocial behaviour. This included replacing gating orders with a new community protection order. We received over a thousand responses, including from numerous police forces and ‘Ramblers’, Britain's walking charity.
	In addition, we published draft legislation in December 2012 so that it could undergo pre-legislative scrutiny by the Home Affairs Select Committee, This included a further opportunity to comment, this time on the detailed proposals. Again, a number of police forces responded to this, as did the ‘Ramblers and Open Spaces Society’.
	We have considered these responses in developing our proposals and will continue to engage with interested groups and individuals over the coming year as the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill makes its way through Parliament.

Private Finance Initiative

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many contracts for private finance initiative schemes were signed prior to May 1997; and what the total capital value of those contracts was.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 5 June 2013
	The Home Office awarded a number of private finance initiative contracts for prisons and secure training centres prior to May 1997. Following machinery of government changes in 2005 these contracts were transferred to the Ministry of Justice and all relevant details will be retained by them.

Radicalism

Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research her Department undertakes into identifying those who are most vulnerable to being influenced by Islamist preachers.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 10 June 2013
	The Home Office draws on a wide range of external evidence, including academic research, to understand what makes individuals more vulnerable to extremist ideologies and influence. This includes work to understand the psychological and social processes, as well as local circumstances which can increase or reduce vulnerability. A useful summary of our understanding of vulnerability is the Channel guidance (2012), which draws on the full range of knowledge available to us. This is available on the Home Office website at:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/counter-terrorism/prevent/vul-assessment

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Capita

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much his Department currently spends on contracts with Capita; and how much was spent in each year since 2008.

Brandon Lewis: Our spending relates to Capita Resourcing Ltd for short-term staffing. Use of contingent labour for short-term or specialist work can be better value for money than hiring staff on permanent contracts. Notwithstanding, my Department has cut back spending on contingent labour from £17.4 million in 2008-09 and £14.4 million in 2009-10 to £3.8 million in 2012-13. We have also significantly cut spending on consultancy in addition.
	The majority of spend on contingent labour is now with Capita Resourcing Ltd, under a centrally approved Government Framework Agreement to help drive down unit costs. In previous years, a larger number of agencies were used by the Department but these have intentionally been scaled down.
	Consequently, the following table breaks down the spending by year. Although the Capita spending has increased, overall costs to taxpayers have fallen as explained above.
	
		
			 Spending on Capita Resourcing Ltd 
			 Financial year £ 
			 2008-09 424,367 
			 2009-10 670,389 
			 2010-11 1,931,152 
			 2011-12 1,351,810 
			 2012-13 2,746,271

Green Belt

Jacob Rees-Mogg: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to what extent it is his Department's policy that development on the green belt is a last resort; and what evidence is required to show the lack of suitable non-green belt sites in the surrounding area of each proposed green belt development.

Nicholas Boles: Reflecting the commitment made in the coalition agreement, this Government has maintained strong protection of the green belt.
	In particular, I refer my hon. Friend to paragraph 14 (Footnote 9) and to section 9 of the National Planning Policy Framework on ‘protecting Green Belt land’ which outlines national policy.

Homelessness: Yorkshire and the Humber

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many families in (a) Haltemprice and Howden constituency, (b) East Yorkshire and (c) Yorkshire and Humber were registered as homeless in each of the last three years.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 5 June 2013
	The following table shows, for the East Riding of Yorkshire council area, both the number of homelessness acceptances of households with dependent children in each of the last three calendar years and the number of households with dependent children in temporary accommodation as at 31 December 2010, 2011 and 2012.
	
		
			 Homeless households with dependent children, East Riding of Yorkshire 
			  Number 
			 Homelessness acceptances during the year: households with dependent children  
			 2010 321 
			 2011 333 
			 2012 286 
			   
			 Households with dependent children in temporary accommodation as at 31 December  
			 2010 44 
			 2011 33 
			 2012 40 
			 Source: Quarterly PIE returns 
		
	
	Figures are collected only at local authority level, and so not available for the Haltemprice and Howden constituency, which falls wholly within the area of the East Riding of Yorkshire council. The council's area also includes at least part of the Beverley and Holderness, Brigg and Goole, East Yorkshire and Kingston-upon-Hull West and Hessle constituencies.
	As outlined in the written ministerial statement of 18 September 2012, Official Report, column 32WS, my Department no longer publishes statistics by Government office region.

Housing: Construction

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the cumulative effect of Government schemes to increase house building.

Mark Prisk: We regularly publish detailed data on all our major housing schemes. The latest figures on net housing supply(1) show it is at the highest level since the tail end of the unsustainable housing boom in 2008. The latest seasonally adjusted house building starts in England (March quarter 2013) are 4% higher than the previous quarter and 15% higher than in the same quarter last year: Our main Affordable Homes Programme remains on track to deliver 170,000 new affordable homes by March 2015. Up to a further 30,000 homes will start on site by the same date, supported by our Affordable Housing Guarantee.
	(1) DCLG Net supply of housing: 2011-12, England, published 1 November 2012.

Housing: North West

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many enquiries have been made with regards to the Government's Help to Buy scheme in (a) Tameside metropolitan Borough council and (b) Stalybridge and Hyde constituency.

Mark Prisk: We do not hold information at constituency level on the number of inquiries that have been made with regards to the Help to Buy: equity loan scheme. There has been a high level of interest in the scheme, for example Rightmove has reported over 337,000 visits to its Help to Buy website since the scheme's launch and housebuilders have reported over 4,000 reservations being placed in the first two months.

Leeds City Region

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will bring forward legislative proposals to amend clause 103 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 to allow York to be part of the Leeds City Region combined authority.

Brandon Lewis: holding answer 14 May 2013
	The Government’s response to the Heseltine Review indicated our willingness to remove legislative barriers to more locally-led, joint working in local government.
	I am open to representations on the best way to deliver the practical change suggested in the right hon. Member’s question, including examining the potential scope for using a Legislative Reform Order to remove regulatory restrictions.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Capita

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Attorney-General how much the Law Officers' Departments currently spends on contracts with Capita; and how much was spent in each year since 2008.

Oliver Heald: The information requested is contained in the following table:
	
		
			 £ 
			  TSol AGO HMCPSI CPS SFO 
			 2008-09 751,476 12,287 18,631 161,944 958,271 
			 2009-10 2,272,793 — — 24,231 467,632 
			 2010-11 778,409 — 2,230 17,732 658,243 
			 2011-12 1,708,005 154,714 1,258 30,940 954,726 
			 2012-13 3,212,196 98,248 — 2,073,612 755,373

Human Trafficking

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Attorney-General what his policy is on prosecuting people for crimes committed while being controlled by traffickers.

Oliver Heald: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has issued comprehensive legal guidance to advise prosecutors of the steps they should take in cases where the police have arrested potential victims of trafficking who have committed criminal offences and referred them for charge. If information suggests that they have been trafficked, prosecutors are advised to make full enquiries and consider whether the case against them should be discontinued. However, a prosecutor can only take these steps if they have information from the police or other sources that a suspect might be a victim of trafficking.
	The CPS is considering issuing new guidelines to prosecutors following recent cases in the Court of Appeal in which victims of trafficking were prosecuted and convicted, having been advised to plead guilty by their legal representative. The new guidelines will be shared in due course with law enforcement and the Law Society to ensure a joined-up approach in these cases.

Prosecutions

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Attorney-General whether he has considered increasing the amount of costs requested by the Crown Prosecution Service at the conclusion of magistrates' court cases.

Oliver Heald: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is currently reviewing its Scales of Costs guidance and intends to issue revised guidance later this. year. The scales illustrate the average costs incurred in a wide range of cases and provide a benchmark to help inform costs applications against convicted defendants.

Prosecutions

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Attorney-General what the average cost was to the Crown Prosecution Service of prosecuting a defendant who pleads (a) guilty and (b) not guilty in the last year for which figures are available; and what average costs are sought at the conclusion of such cases.

Oliver Heald: The broad average internal cost to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) of prosecuting cases in 2012 was as follows:
	
		
			 Magistrates court 
			  £ 
			 Summary offence guilty plea 106 
			 Summary offence trial 717 
			 Either-way offence guilty plea 134 
			 Either-way offence trial 890 
		
	
	
		
			 Crown court 
			  £ 
			 Guilty plea 1,783 
			 Trial 3,779 
		
	
	It should be noted that the average internal costs quoted exclude external costs, such as counsel fees, witness expenses or expert fees.
	The CPS applies for costs against convicted defendants using published Scales of Costs guidance. The scales illustrate the average costs incurred and provide a benchmark to help inform the calculation of costs applications against convicted defendants. The figures in the current scales are presented in a lower/average/higher range, as follows:
	
		
			 Magistrates court 
			 £ 
			  Lower Average Higher 
			 Early (first hearing) guilty plea — 85 100 
			 Summary guilty plea 105 135 160 
		
	
	
		
			 Summary trial 620 775 930 
			 Either-way guilty plea 145 185 220 
			 Either-way trial 770 965 1,150 
		
	
	
		
			 Crown court 
			 £ 
			  Lower Average Higher 
			 Committal for sentence 340 425 510 
			 Appeal against sentence 260 330 395 
			 Appeal against conviction 415 520 620 
			 Section 51 early guilty plea 535 670 800 
			 Committal for trial (plea)(1) 1,200 1,500 1,800 
			 Committal for trial (trial)(1) 2,800 3,500 4,200 
			 (1) These scales include the costs of committal/transfer/sending proceedings.

TREASURY

Banks: Loans

David Morris: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department is taking to help people who have been missold loans by high street banks.

Jo Swinson: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	Consumers who believe they have been missold a financial product by a lender can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service(FOS)—an independent body set up, through the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA) 2001, to provide arbitration between businesses that provide financial services and their customers, as an alternative to the civil courts.
	Government has also decided to transfer the regulation of consumer credit from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) from April 2014. The FCA will have its own powers to require firms to establish redress schemes and require reimbursement.

Banks: Loans

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much has been distributed to businesses through the Funding for Lending scheme in (a) Tameside metropolitan borough and (b) Stalybridge and Hyde constituency in the latest period for which figures are available.

Greg Clark: The Funding for Lending scheme is designed to boost lending across the whole of the UK economy. The Bank of England publishes the net lending data of participants on a quarterly basis. However, a detailed breakdown on a geographical basis is not available.

Banks: Scotland

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the statement on page 6 of his Department's publication, Scotland Analysis: Financial Services and Banking, that Scottish banks have assets totalling around 1254 per cent of an independent Scotland's GDP, if he will provide a full list of assets included to support that figure.

Danny Alexander: An explanation of the methodology used to define the Scottish banking sector and calculate the size of its assets relative to the GDP of an independent Scottish state, and a list of the firms whose assets were included for this purpose, can be found on the UK Government website at:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/scotland-analysis-financial-services-and-banking

Gift Aid

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to make it easier for charities to access gift aid from small donations made in the workplace; and if he will make a statement.

Sajid Javid: Gift aid is a generous tax relief and is available on all donations of cash to charity from UK taxpayers. However, the Government has recognised that it is not always practicable for charities to collect gift aid declarations from donors making small, impulsive donations of cash—for example through bucket or church plate collections.
	To address this issue, the Government launched the Gift Aid Small Donations scheme on 6 April 2013. This scheme allows a gift aid-style top-up payment on small cash donations for the first time. The Government estimates this should be worth around £130 million a year to charities by 2015-16.
	The Government recognises the importance of workplace giving, and encourages it through the Payroll Giving scheme.

Intestacy

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many unclaimed estates there are on the Government's bona vacantia list.

Sajid Javid: There are 10,270 unclaimed estates on the bona vacantia historic list (estates dealt with between 1997 and 2012) and, at 7 June 2013, 620 unclaimed estates on the current list of advertised estates.

Statutory Sick Pay

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects to (a) commence consultation and (b) report on plans for the abolition of the Percentage Threshold Scheme and recycling of funding into the creation of the Health and Work Advisory Service for those at danger of long-term sickness absence.

Esther McVey: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.
	The information requested is as follows:
	(a) As announced at Budget 13, the Government will introduce targeted tax relief. Amounts up to £500, paid by employers on health-related interventions recommended by the service, will not be treated as a taxable benefit in kind. The Government will consult on implementation later in 2013.
	(b) We are currently in the early stages of designing the new health and work assessment and advisory service. We expect the service to be delivered through external provision and an invitation to tender to this effect will be issued in due course. Funding for the new service will be recycled from the Percentage Threshold Scheme (PTS) which will end in April 2014.

SCOTLAND

Accountancy

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the names, job titles, area of work, term of appointment and Civil Service equivalent grade are of personnel currently seconded to his Department from the big four accountancy firms.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office does not have any personnel who have been seconded from the big four accountancy firms.

Capita

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much his Department currently spends on contracts with Capita; and how much was spent in each year since 2008.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office has no contracts and has incurred no costs with Capita since 2008.

Domestic Visits

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many nights (a) he and (b) other Ministers of his Department has stayed overnight in Scotland in an official capacity since 1 January 2012.

David Mundell: The Secretary of State for Scotland, the right hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (Michael Moore), and I live in Scotland in our respective constituencies and carry out official duties all year round, as the ministerial quarterly returns illustrate.

Legal Costs

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the 20 highest amounts paid for external legal advice by his Department were in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012; to whom such payments were paid; and for what reasons the legal advice was sought.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office incurred expenditure for external legal advice once between 2010 and 2012 at a total cost of £2,930 in July 2012. The payment was made to Faculty Services Ltd.
	The Government do not specify the reasons they seek external legal advice.

Legal Costs

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much his Department spent on external legal advice from Queen's counsel (a) between 7 May 2010 and 4 September 2012 and (b) since 4 September 2012.

David Mundell: The Office of the Advocate-General for Scotland provides any necessary legal advice to the Scotland Office. The Scotland Office has incurred no expenditure for external legal advice from Queen's counsels since 7 May 2010.

Legal Costs

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much his Department spent on external legal advice (a) between 7 May 2010 and 4 September 2012 and (b) since 4 September 2012.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office incurred expenditure for external legal advice once between 2010 and 2012 at a total cost of £2,930 in July 2012.

Legal Costs

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the highest day rate paid for external legal advice by his Department since 7 May 2010 was.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office does not record the day rates paid for external legal advice.

Pensions: Tax Allowances

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer regarding the effect of different Scottish rates of income tax on individuals who are members of pension schemes who operate the relief at source process for tax relief.

David Mundell: During the development and delivery of the Scotland Act 2012, Scotland Office Ministers and Treasury Ministers met regularly to discuss a wide range of matters relating to the new Scottish rate of income tax, including its effect on pensions tax relief. In May 2012, HMRC published a Technical Note entitled "Clarifying the Scope of the Scottish Rate of Income Tax" which set out the Government's intention to continue to give tax relief on pensions individuals' marginal rates to all taxpayers after the Scottish rate of income tax is introduced. HMRC continues to discuss the issue with the industry via its Scotland Act Pensions Technical Group to find a method of giving relief which minimises costs to the industry and HMRC and ensures that contributors potential burdens on the industry are minimised and that taxpayers, as far as possible, receive the right amount of relief at the right time. The most recent meeting of the technical group took place in April 2013.

EDUCATION

Capita

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much his Department currently spends on contracts with Capita; and how much was spent in each year since 2008.

Elizabeth Truss: Spend with Capita, and its group of companies, is shown in the table for each of the requested financial years. The figures include both contract work and work completed by Capita outside of contracts through paid invoices.
	
		
			 Financial year Spend (£) 
			 2008 to 2009 131,750,231 
			 2009 to 2010 67,271,804 
			 2010 to 2011 125,565,494 
			 2011 to 2012 53,300,042 
			 2012 to 2013 25,837,711 
		
	
	Since January 2011, central Government Departments have been required to publish information on all the contracts they award on Contracts Finder.(1)
	The Department does not have a central repository of all contract information. To collate and provide this information would incur disproportionate cost.
	www.contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk/

Females: Education

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to work with schools to broaden girls' education choices and aspirations.

David Laws: We are committed to ensuring that all pupils have the opportunity to make good progress and reach their potential, regardless of their gender, or other characteristics. We believe that schools are best placed to know what works best for their pupils and should lead the way in driving this forward.
	We are supporting all young people to make informed choices by giving schools responsibility for securing independent and impartial careers guidance on the full range of education and training options, including apprenticeships. Schools have had responsibility for careers guidance since September 2012.
	In addition, and with a particular emphasis on girls, the Government is taking action to improve engagement in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects. This includes funding (£1.85 million in 2013-14) the Stimulating Physics Network to support schools to improve progression to physics A level.

First Aid: Curriculum

Pauline Latham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether he has plans to introduce life saving skills as part of the National Curriculum; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss: Our proposals for the new national curriculum were published for consultation on 7 February 2013, and the consultation closed on 16 April 2013. The proposals are based on the principle that the national curriculum should set out a body of essential knowledge that children should be expected to acquire in key subjects during the course of their school career.
	We are reviewing the consultation responses, including those from organisations and individuals supporting the inclusion of emergency life-saving skills, and will publish a final version of the new national curriculum later in the year.

Free School Meals

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what amount his Department spent on free school meals in each of the last five years.

David Laws: The funding the Department provides to local authorities through the Dedicated Schools Grant and to academies through the General Annual Grant does not separately identify funding for free school meals. The cost of free school meals is met by schools from their overall budget, which is determined by the local authority in consultation with its School Forum. As autonomous institutions, schools have the freedom to decide how much to spend on free school meals.

Health Education: Skin Cancer

David Nuttall: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what guidance his Department issues to schools on protecting young children from the effects of overexposure to the sun.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department does not issue guidance on protecting young children from the effects of overexposure to the sun. It is a matter for individual schools to decide how to advise and protect their pupils. They are best placed to determine what measures are practicable to minimise any known risks arising from activities which take place in sunny weather and exposure to sun during school breaks.

Higher Education: Brigg

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of schools in Brigg and Goole constituency sent at least one pupil to the university of (a) Oxford and (b) Cambridge in each of the last 10 years.

David Laws: This information is not currently available at parliamentary constituency level.
	Destination Measures were first published by the Department for Education in 2012, identifying 2008/09 students going into 2009/10 education destinations. They were published at national, local authority and institutional level and included the proportion of students who went to the universities of Oxford or Cambridge. The publication can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/destinations-of-key-stage-4-and-key-stage-5-pupils-academic-year-2009-to-2010
	On 20 June 2013, Destination Measures will be published on 2009/10 students going into 2010/11 education and employment destinations. Additional Destination Measures data at constituency level are currently under review and may be published later in the year subject to data quality considerations.

Schools: Admissions

Mike Thornton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps his Department is taking to ensure that parents with more than one child who fulfil all relevant admissions criteria are able to send all their children to the same school.

David Laws: Local admission authorities are responsible for setting school admission arrangements and must act in accordance with admissions law and the School Admissions Code. Many admission authorities give priority to siblings in their admissions criteria but they are not required to do so. We have no plans to amend the Code in this respect. The revised Code, which came into effect on 1 February 2012, does exceptionally permit schools to admit a child whose twin or sibling from a multiple birth is admitted to the school even where that would involve the school exceeding the infant class size limit.

Schools: Buildings

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children are currently being taught in temporary facilities in (a) England and (b) Birmingham.

David Laws: Local authorities in England are responsible for the management of the demand and supply of pupil places. The Department does not hold information on how many children are taught in temporary facilities as we do not collect this data from local authorities on how pupil places are provided.

Schools: Finance

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the potential effects of proposed changes to school funding on the funding of (a) schools with pupils with special educational needs and (b) such schools which have intermittent spare places; and if he will make a statement.

David Laws: In establishing new funding arrangements for schools we have taken care to make sure (a) that local authorities have the flexibility to target resources to schools so that they can make effective provision for pupils with special educational needs, and (b) that authorities can take account of place occupancy levels in setting the funding for schools with intermittent spare places. Our school funding system is not, however, designed to support a significant number of empty school places indefinitely as we do not consider that to be a proper use of taxpayers' money.

DEFENCE

Afghanistan

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his policy is on the future use of UK unmanned aerial vehicles in Afghanistan; and if he will make a statement. [R]

Andrew Robathan: No decisions have been taken on the longer term use of unmanned aircraft systems by UK forces within Afghanistan.

Air Force: Training

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the airworthiness of the Grob 115E training aircraft; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Robathan: The Grob Tutor fleet are contractor owned, civil registered aircraft operated and maintained by Babcock International Group to civil European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) airworthiness and maintenance regulatory requirements.
	The Ministry of Defence (MOD) Duty Holder, Air Officer Commanding 22 (Training) Group, supported by the MOD Chief Air Engineer provides oversight of the civil engineering airworthiness requirements.

Armed Conflict: Children

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consultation he has conducted with (a) non-governmental organisations and (b) other stakeholders to inform the preparation of the UK's submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict.

Mark Francois: The Department for Education (DFE) has the UK Government lead on reporting on this protocol. The Ministry of Defence (MOD), along with other Government Departments, has contributed to the DFE work. The MOD has accordingly not held any discussions with non-governmental organisations or any other organisations outside the MOD to inform the preparations of the UK's submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on implementation of the Optional Protocol.

Armed Forces: Complaints

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many complaints were made by armed forces personnel of (a) bullying, (b) harassment and (c) sexual assault in the latest period for which figures are available; and how many such complainants were minors at the time the incident was reported.

Mark Francois: Complaints of bullying and harassment can be handled through the service complaints system, whereas allegations of sexual assault relate to potential criminal offences and are therefore investigated by the police.
	The latest figures available for complaints made by service personnel about bullying and harassment are published in the Service Complaints Commissioner's Annual Report 2012 at table 13. The full report is presented annually to the House and is also located at the following website:
	http://armedforcescomplaints.independent.gov.uk/linkedfiles/afcindependent/426354_ssc_ar_2012.pdf
	In summary, during 2012 armed forces personnel made 158 formal complaints of bullying and 100 informal; and 38 formal complaints of harassment alongside 109 informal. As noted in the report, complaints can include more than one allegation.
	The age of complainants at the time the incident was reported is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	For the latest information held by the Ministry of Defence on sexual assault complaints made by service personnel below the age of 18 at the time of the incident I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister for the Armed Forces, my right hon. Friend the Member for South Leicestershire (Mr Robathan), on 25 April 2013, Official Report, columns 1255-6W, to the hon. Member for Bridgend (Mrs Moon).

Armed Forces: English Defence League

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent advice has been issued to the chain of command on (a) membership of the English Defence League (EDL), (b) attendance at EDL marches or meetings and (c) references to EDL on social media.

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what guidance his Department has given on membership of the English Defence League by members of HM Armed Forces.

Mark Francois: holding answer 6 June 2013
	In the wake of the appalling murder of Drummer Rigby, General Sir David Richards, Chief of the Defence Staff, wrote to all ranks on 23 May both to express his sympathy for Drummer Rigby's family and to urge all service personnel not to get drawn into the politics of this incident. General Richards was clear that UK armed forces fight to protect people of every creed. On 30 May, General Sir Peter Wall, Chief of the General Staff, wrote to all Army Commanders and Commanding Officers to reiterate that Queen's Regulations forbid regular service personnel in uniform from taking an active part in the affairs of any political organisation party or movement, or participating in political marches or demonstrations. The Royal Navy and Royal Air Force will also use suitable opportunities to reinforce these messages as appropriate, down to unit level.
	All service personnel are expected to abide by the values and standards of the British armed forces in all they do. All those who are found to fall short of these high standards or have committed an offence under the Armed Forces Act are dealt with administratively or through the disciplinary process. Ultimately, such action may result in dismissal.

Armed Forces: Mental Illness

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what research his Department has commissioned or evaluated on the prevalence of (a) post-traumatic stress disorder and (b) other mental health problems among armed forces personnel according to age at enlistment.

Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has not commissioned or evaluated any research which specifically addresses age of enlistment as a risk factor in mental health outcomes. However, this Government is committed to providing our service personnel with the best possible mental health care and support. Work is under way in a number of areas to address the mental health needs of serving and former service personnel. These include structured mental health assessments, the national veterans' mental health network, and continued funding of research into post-traumatic stress disorder at King's College by Professor Sir Simon Wessely and his team. Most recently, in April 2013, an iPhone app was launched to provide serving armed forces personnel with additional mental health support and information.

Armed Forces: Qualifications

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what GCSE or Scottish Standard results newly enlisted soldiers had gained in (a) English and (b) mathematics in (i) the infantry and (ii) the Army as a whole in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Mark Francois: Qualifications on entry, as recorded on the Joint Personnel Administration system, for those soldiers joining between 2 June 2012 and 3 June 2013 are summarised in the following table:
	
		
			  Infantry Whole Army 
			 Name English Mathematics English Mathematics 
			 GCSE Grades A-C 960 600 4,490 2,890 
			 GCSE Grades D-G 860 580 2,420 1,470 
			 Scottish Standards Grades A-C 180 160 410 370 
			 Scottish Standards Grades D-G — — (1)— — 
			 (1) Less than five. Note: All figures are rounded in accordance with Governmental statistical conventions.

Armed Forces: Training

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how many people are undergoing training at (a) RAF Cranwell, (b) Britannia Royal College, Dartmouth, (c) Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and (d) the Defence Academy at Shrivenham;
	(2)  how many individuals underwent training at (a) Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, (b) Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, (c) the Defence Academy, Shrivenham and (d) RAF Cranwell in each year since 2000; and how many people are intended to undergo training at each establishment in each year until 2020.

Andrew Robathan: The following information relates only to Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC), Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and RAF Cranwell. The information relating to the Defence Academy, Shrivenham will take time to collate, and I will write to the hon. Member shortly.
	As at 23 May 2013, the number of personnel undergoing training was:
	
		
			  Number 
			 Britannia Royal Naval College 226 
			 Royal Military Academy Sandhurst 576 
			 RAF Cranwell 46 
		
	
	The number of personnel who have undergone or will undergo training at each establishment between 2000 and 2020 is shown in the following table.
	Where the number is marked as not available (BRNC and Cranwell in financial years 2000-01 to 2005-06), the data has not been captured in electronic form and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			  2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 
			 BRNC n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 345 370 343 433 
			 RMAS 627 678 679 746 719 735 721 712 707 701 
			 Cranwell n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 540 653 810 613 
		
	
	
		
			  2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 
			 BRNC 349 288 279 376 391 392 398 400 400 400 
			 RMAS 771 682 593 591 591 591 591 591 591 591 
			 Cranwell 348 174 199 329 350 363 376 398 386 387 
		
	
	Substantive answer from Andrew Robathan to Kevan Jones:
	I undertook to write to you in my answer to your Parliamentary Questions of 3 June 2013 (Official Report, column 988W) about training.
	The Defence Academy is a complex Training and Education (T&E) establishment which has its HQ based at Shrivenham, but also has integral components which deliver courses at other geographical sites. The figures below are for all types of T&E delivered at all sites.
	As at 23 May 2013, the Defence Academy had approx. 2,474 students undertaking various types of short and longer term T&E.
	The number of personnel that have undergone, or will undergo training at the Defence Academy between 2000 and 2020 is shown in the table below. This has been broken down by specific component for ease of reference. Where the number is marked “not available” this is because the information has not been retained.
	For ease of reference the areas are as follows:
	Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre (AFCC)—Figures are only available since 2006 as AFCC was not part of the Academy before then.
	Defence Academy College of Management Technology—DA CMT was not formed in its current structure until 2009 and figures are not available before this time.
	Defence Centre of Training Support (DCTS)—Not part of DA until 2012.
	Joint Service Command Staff College (JSCSC)
	Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS)
	
		
			  00-01 01-02 02-03 03-04 04-05 05-06 06-07 07-08 08-09 09-10 
			 DA—AFCC n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 1300 1300 1300 681 2437 
			 CMT n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 58500 44500 
			 DCTS n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
		
	
	
		
			 JSCSC n/a 2188 2227 1909 1772 1525 n/a n/a 2618 3081 
			 RCDS 87 93 95 94 90 95 98 102 112 92 
		
	
	
		
			  10-11 11-12 12-13 13-14 14-15 15-16 16-17 17-18 18-19 19-20 
			 DA—AFCC 854 1059 1059 1059 1059 1059 1059 1059 1059 1059 
			 CMT 31656 22355 22355 22355 22355 22355 22355 22355 22355 22355 
			 DCTS n/a 1670 1914 1914 1914 1914 1914 1914 1914 1914 
			 JSCSC 2846 2452 1694 2339 2366 2212 2269 2187 2187 2187 
			 RCDS 115 119 114 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 
		
	
	I have also made arrangements for the Defence Academy Training and Education Statistical Analysis publication to be placed in the House of Commons Library should you wish to review it.

Armed Forces: Training

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps are taken to ensure that training exercises for minors in the armed forces are suitable for their age and relative physical and psychological maturity.

Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) recognises that the care and training of military personnel under the age of 18 requires particular attention, as made clear in the Armed Forces Covenant.
	MOD policy on the care and training of all military personnel, including those under the age of 18, undertaking Phase 1 and Phase 2 training is set out in Joint Service Publication 898—Catalogue of Defence Policies with Impact on Training and Education. This includes guidance on factors that should be considered as part of a Unit Commander's Risk Assessment (CRA). The CRA must take account of any particular or local factors and must contain a detailed analysis of the trainee population, the type of issues they generate and the nature of training and education being undertaken.
	No trainee will be released from Phase 2 training until commanders are content that the individual has reached the required level of knowledge and maturity required for their chosen trade. Beyond Phase 2 training, Commanding Officers have a continuing duty of care for the welfare and ongoing training needs of all personnel under their command.

Armed Forces: Training

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what financial contribution the Department for Education makes to the provision of training for members of the armed forces;
	(2)  in what ways his Department co-ordinates with the Department for Education to provide training for members of the armed forces;
	(3)  how much his Department spends annually on training members of the (a) Army, (b) Royal Air Force and (c) Royal Navy to reach (i) Key Stage 1 and (ii) Key Stage 2;
	(4)  how much his Department spends annually on providing members of the (a) Army, (b) Royal Air Force and (c) Royal Navy with apprenticeships.

Mark Francois: Given the central importance of readiness for operations, training lies at the core of what we do and is a vital component of professional development for every single member of the armed forces. However, key stages 1 and 2 are attainment levels for children of primary school age and as such are not provided for members of the armed forces.
	The Department for Education (DFE) makes no contribution to the provision of military training for members of the armed forces. The Ministry of Defence MOD) has worked closely with the DFE on the recently announced Troops to Teachers programme, which aims to make it easier for highly-skilled former members of the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force to become teachers.
	Over 10,000 apprenticeships were completed by members of the armed forces in academic year 2011-12. However, the specific MOD costs associated with apprenticeships are not easily separated from other areas of the training budget and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Army: Redundancy

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps his Department is taking to support soldiers who will be made redundant as a result of the planned reductions in the size of the Army.

Andrew Murrison: Assisting our former service personnel transition to civilian employment is of major importance to the Department. All service personnel selected for redundancy receive financial compensation and a comprehensive resettlement package to help them find a job and transition to life outside the armed forces.
	Soldiers being made redundant in Tranche 3 will qualify for the normal resettlement package available to all armed forces personnel. In addition, as part of the special arrangements for redundancy all Army personnel will receive the same level of graduated resettlement time (GRT) and training to which they would have been entitled had they completed their full commission or engagement. GRT is flexible time which may be used by personnel to complete training courses, civilian work attachments and resettlement activities such as job and house hunting. Also, to help families find accommodation, they may retain their service families' accommodation for up to 93 days after their discharge.
	The resettlement package includes financial briefings covering budget and debt management, specialist housing advice, and advice on the importance of seeking medical help, including the ability to access mental health services, should they feel it necessary.
	Further support is available through the Career Transition Partnership (CTP) in the form of training courses; career transition workshops; employment and future career advice; assistance with curriculum vitae writing and job preparation; vocational training; and a job-search/recruitment facility.
	The CTP also run ‘Right Job’—a bespoke online job finding service, listing thousands of live vacancies which are updated on a daily basis. Right Job assists the service leaver in finding a job they believe is right for them, and enables employers to find qualified candidates who are leaving the armed forces. This service is free of charge to both service leavers and employers.
	Historically, over 90% of those service personnel who use the CTP to seek employment secure it within six months of discharge.
	Service leavers are entitled to lifetime job finding support through either the Officers Association or the Regular Forces Employment Association.

Libya

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department's work in Libya counted towards the UK's Overseas Development Assistance target.

Andrew Robathan: The Ministry of Defence's (MOD) military operation in Libya was not eligible to be counted as overseas development assistance (ODA).
	The MOD's Defence Advisory Team which works on capacity building and security sector reform were counted as partially ODA eligible for financial year (FY) 2012-13. The total value of ODA spend on Libya from these activities in FY 2012-13 was approximately £295,000.
	As ODA is reported by calendar year, final details of 2012 expenditure will not be available until they are published in Statistics on International Development in the autumn.

Libya

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he has visited Libya in 2013; what the (a) dates and (b) purpose was of each such visit; and whom he met during each such visit.

Philip Hammond: I have not visited Libya in 2013. However, the Minister for International Security Strategy, my hon. Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison), did visit Tripoli in April this year for discussions about naval co-operation.

Military Exercises

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the use of Urban Warrior 5 technology in recent training exercises; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Robathan: The Urban Warrior 5 trial seeks to explore how various simulation methods can be used to aid decision making for major combat operations. Urban Warrior 5 also provided an opportunity to further develop the effectiveness of an Armoured Infantry Company Group as part of the new Army 2020 structure. Evaluation of the trial is still in progress and it is expected that the results will not be available before autumn 2013.

Radar: Hebrides

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the operation of the radar at Rangehead is for test facility or for national security.

Andrew Robathan: Radar equipment located in the vicinity of Rangehead on South Uist supports test, evaluation and training activities that are conducted at the Ministry of Defence Hebrides Range.

Radar: Wind Power

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made with the development of technology to allow radar to function effectively with wind turbines in line of sight situations; what plans he has to roll out such technology; and when he anticipates the installations of such technology in the Hebrides Range.

Andrew Murrison: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not have responsibility for developing technologies capable of mitigating wind farms. The MOD does continue to work closely with the wind farm industry to identify mitigations for Air Defence (AD) and Air Traffic Control radars (ATC). Wind farm developers have so far funded the implementation of new AD radars at Remote Radar Heads Trimingham and Brizlee Wood, with a third due to be installed at Remote Radar Head Staxton Wold shortly. For ATC Radars, the MOD will conduct a Technology Demonstration (TD) of potential solutions during July/August 2013, and a report will be issued in the autumn of 2013. This TD is not being funded by the MOD.
	The MOD intends to upgrade the T92 Radar at Clettraval on North Uist in the next five years, but exact timings have yet to be determined.

Reorganisation

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he is taking to ensure that his Department's new Operating Model is being implemented and the desired effects are achieved.

Philip Hammond: The new Defence Operating Model was put in place, as planned, on 2 April 2013 at Initial Operating Capability and over the next year we will be optimising it to ensure that the Department is best placed to deliver the benefits envisaged by Lord Levene's Defence Reform Review for a simpler, more effective, better skilled and less bureaucratic organisation. These changes are at the heart of how we are delivering our part of the pan-Government Civil Service Reform plan. Defence Reform is managed as one of the programmes in the Defence Transformation Portfolio which directs, co-ordinates and drives forward implementation of the major change initiatives. I oversee progress routinely through the Defence Board. Lord Levene also reviews progress annually against his recommendations, reporting to me. Progress is reported to Parliament, including through the Prime Minister's annual report on the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review, the MOD's Annual Report and Accounts, and publication of Lord Levene's annual progress report.

Reorganisation

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how the new Operating Model will affect his Department; and if he will make a statement.

Philip Hammond: The new Operating Model will lead to:
	Net programme delivery risk reduced through empowered financial and capability delegation for delivery to the Command or Top Level Budget area best able to manage it including better management of joint enablers;
	Increasingly efficient and effective delivery of operational outputs through increased freedoms to manage capability generation across the Defence Lines of Development;
	Non-front line costs reduced as a proportion of overall Defence expenditure through a smaller more professional MOD and more efficient, customer focused support from our corporate service providers;
	A better skilled, motivated and engaged work force through improved leadership, targeted education and training and more efficient structures and processes; and
	Increased levels of trust through improved top level decision making, more transparent processes and improved communications.

Royal Fleet Auxiliary

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department has estimated the cost of extending the in-service life of RFA Fort Rosalie and RFA Fort Austin beyond their retirement dates of 2022 and 2021.

Philip Dunne: As part of our regular budgetary cycles, we routinely examine a range of options for delivering military capability in the most cost-effective manner. One of these options led to the decision, in 2011, to extend the service lives of RFA Fort Rosalie and RFA Fort Austin to 2024 and 2023 respectively.

Telephone Services

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department receives any financial or non-financial benefit from its telephone providers for telephone lines that (a) his Department and (b) the agencies for which he is responsible operate, including but not limited to (i) a share of call revenue, (ii) a reduction in the Department's telephone bill or tariff and (iii) telephony services for free or at a reduced price.

Mark Francois: Telecommunications, including telephone lines and services, are provided to the Ministry of Defence and its agencies via the Defence Fixed Telecommunications Service (DFTS) Agreement with British Telecom (BT).
	For the period 2010 to 2015, the bespoke services covered by the agreement provided substantial financial savings of around £92 million. In addition, central Government negotiated improved mobile telephony tariffs with Vodafone (an enabling arrangement under the DFTS agreement) and have realised a further direct saving of £6 million. Central Government has also negotiated a further 1% off direct use of BT digital private circuits and further discounts have been achieved on telephone line rentals.
	Where negotiable, standard BT products and services are accompanied by discounts, including reductions in the departmental telephone bill.
	Some non-financial benefits have also been realised as a result of the DFTS agreement. These include increased bandwidth for the Defence Information Infrastructure (DII—the departmental ICT network) which has enhanced network capability.

Unmanned Air Vehicles

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many qualified unmanned aerial vehicle pilots are currently employed by the Royal Air Force.

Andrew Robathan: There are currently 36 Royal Air Force personnel qualified to pilot remotely piloted air systems.

Wind Power

Chris Heaton-Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent on funding technical demonstrators to assist the development of wind farms in the last five years. [R]

Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence has contributed £45,000 of funding to Technology Demonstrator Programmes to assist in the development of wind farms in the last five years. The Department has also closely monitored the development of radar technologies and supported trials to assess the maturity of commercial wind farm mitigation solutions.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Accountancy

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the names, job titles, area of work, term of appointment and Civil Service equivalent grade are of personnel currently seconded to his Department from the big four accountancy firms.

Gregory Barker: The Department of Energy and Climate Change does not have any people currently seconded from the big four accountancy firms.

Energy: Coventry

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the average proportion of household expenditure on energy bills in (a) Coventry and (b) Coventry North East constituency in the latest period for which figures are available.

Gregory Barker: The latest available data cover the years 2009-11. This suggests that during this period in the west midlands, the average proportion of expenditure on electricity, gas and other fuels was 5.0%. This compares with 4.6% for the UK as a whole. These data are from the Living Costs and Food Survey, run by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Data from this survey are not available at a lower level than that of regions. Therefore data for Coventry and Coventry North East constituency are not available.

Energy: Disconnections

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many households in the UK were disconnected by their (a) energy and (b) gas supplier in 2010-11.

Michael Fallon: Ofgem monitors and publishes information about disconnections of domestic electricity supplies in its Domestic Supplies' Obligations Annual Reports:
	http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Sustainability/SocAction/Monitoring/SoObMonitor/Pages/SocObMonitor.aspx
	In 2010, 1,988 domestic electricity and 813 domestic gas supplies were disconnected due to debt. In 2011, 921 domestic electricity and 331 gas customer supplies were disconnected due to debt.

Warm Front Scheme

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether he has made an assessment of the effects of the closure of the Warm Front Scheme on (a) levels of fuel poverty and (b) the number of energy efficient homes.

Gregory Barker: The Warm Front scheme has been a key policy in tackling fuel poverty among private sector households in England though the installation of a range of heating, insulation and other energy efficiency measures. The last year of Warm Front's operation was 2012-13 and to ensure there was no gap in the support for vulnerable households the Energy Company Obligation was introduced in January 2013.
	The energy company obligation is expected to lead to more cost-effective delivery of measures to low income, vulnerable households.
	Under Warm Front in 2010-11, around 80,000 households received major heating and/or insulation measures from a budget of £366 million. By contrast, the ECO Affordable Warmth obligation is expected to deliver heating and insulation measures to around 130,000 households each year of the scheme for an annual cost of around £350 million. Coupled with the ECO Carbon Saving Communities obligation, worth around £190 million per annum, we expect some 230,000 low income households to be assisted each scheme year. We also expect the main ECO carbon obligation to assist further low income households.

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES

Rape: Victim Support Schemes

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities how much funding was provided to rape crisis centres in each year since 2010.

Helen Grant: Since 2010 the Government Equalities Office has provided £1,085,000 towards the funding of Rape Crisis Centres.

Regulation

Priti Patel: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what processes the Government Equalities Office has put in place to (a) monitor, (b) collate cost information on, (c) review and (d) respond to requests to amend or revoke regulations introduced by the Government Equalities Office.

Helen Grant: The Statement of New Regulation is a Government-wide publication that lists regulatory and deregulatory measures and their expected impact on businesses.
	GEO has used the Red Tape Challenge process to review existing regulations, and in particular invite requests from stakeholders to amend or revoke regulations that impose unnecessary burdens on business.

Regulation

Priti Patel: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities if she will provide the estimated cost of each regulation introduced by the Government Equalities Office since May 2010; and what the estimated benefits of each regulation (a) amended and (b) revoked were.

Helen Grant: The information requested is provided in the following table based on the following definitions:
	Regulation: a measure within scope of the one-in, one-out (OIOO) or one-in, two-out (OITO)
	Introduced: the date at which a regulation came into force
	Business impact: the annual net cost to business (negative should be interpreted as benefits).
	The one-in, one-out rule came into force in January 2011. The one-in, two-out rule replaced the one-in, one-out rule from January 2013. EU derived regulatory measures are out of scope of OIOO and OITO. The machinery of government change brought the Government Equalities Office (GEO) under control of the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in September 2012. This table also covers the period when GEO was under the control of the Home Secretary.
	
		
			 Title of regulation Introduced Legislation Business impact (£ million)  
			 Positive Action—recruitment and promotion in employment (section 159 Equality Act 2010) 6 April 2011 New 0.0 OIOO 
			 The Media Ownership (Radio and Cross-Media) Order 2011 15 June 2011 Amend 0.0 OIOO 
			 The Gambling Act 2005 (Gaming Machines in Adult Gaming Centres and Bingo Premises) Order 2011 13 July 2011 Amend -8.6 OIOO 
			 The Marriages and Civil Partnerships (Approved Premises) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 5 December 2011 New 0.0 OIOO 
			 The Local Television Programme Services Order 2012 14 February 2012 Amend 0.0 OIOO 
		
	
	
		
			 The Gambling (Operating Licence and Single-Machine Permit Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 6 April 2012 Amend -0.7 OIOO 
			 The Gambling Act 2005 (Amendment of Schedule 6) Order 2012 22 June 2012 Amend -0.1 OIOO 
			 The Broadcasting (Local Digital Television Programme Services and Independent Productions) (Amendment) Order 2012 12 July 2012 Amend 0.0 OIOO 
			 The Video Recordings (Labelling) Regulations 2012 30 July 2012 Amend 0.0 OIOO 
			 The Live Music Act 2012 (Commencement) Order 1 October 2012 Amend -0.4 OIOO 
			 The Equality Act 2010 (Age Exceptions) Order 2012 1 October 2012 New 0.0 OIOO 
			 The Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-Print Works) Regulations 2013 6 April 2013 Amend -0.8 OITO

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Pay

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many employees in her Department were paid in excess of (a) £80,000 and (b) £100,000 in (i) 2012 and (ii) 2013.

Hugh Robertson: holding answer 3 June 2013
	The number of employees paid in excess of (a) £80,000 and (b) £100,000 in (i) 2012 and (ii) 2013 is shown in the table. Historical data is also provided to highlight the context.
	
		
			  In excess of £80,000 In excess of £100,000 
			 2013 5 1 
			 2012 14 9 
			 2011 12 7 
			 2010 16 7 
			 2009 15 8 
			 2008 14 4

Sign Language

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what specific measures her Department has in place to ensure that deaf people have the opportunity to communicate in British Sign Language with (a) cultural, media, sporting and business organisations and (b) the agencies and public bodies for which she is responsible.

Edward Vaizey: We recognise the importance of removing the barriers deaf and hearing impaired people face, where they might otherwise be at a substantial disadvantage compared to the way others access a particular service.
	The Minister for Disabled People, my hon. Friend the Member for Wirral West (Esther McVey), and I have written to organisations to explore how they can meet the needs of BSL customers, through developing a mix of accessible contact strategies for their disabled and older customers via e-mail, SMS, instant messenger, text relay and Video Relay Services (VRS). These initiatives will assist many people who are deaf and hearing impaired.
	The information on measures taken by the Department's agencies and arm's length bodies is not held centrally.

Swimming Pools

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding from the public purse has been allocated to the building of Olympic-sized swimming pools in each year for which information is available.

Hugh Robertson: The table sets out Sport England funding (through the Lottery and from the Exchequer). We do not have records of other sources of public funding.
	The 'years' column sets out the year the award was made, as some facilities were paid over a number of years.
	
		
			  Funding (£) 
			 2001 21,901,662 
			 2002 43,199,000 
			 2006 4,022,668 
			 2007 11,299,000 
			 2008 5,990,000 
			 2009 2,870,450 
			 2010 1,990,000 
			 2011 34,000,000 
			 2012 1,200,000 
			 Total 126,472,780

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Bovine Tuberculosis

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with reference to his written statement of 27 February 2013, Official Report, column 28WS, on bovine TB, what criteria will be used to test his Department's assumptions about the effectiveness, humaneness and safety of shooting badgers in the proposed cull pilots.

David Heath: Independent monitoring will be undertaken to assess the effectiveness, humaneness and safety of controlled shooting during the pilots. The design of this monitoring has been overseen by an independent panel of experts, who have advised on the appropriate methods for monitoring, which will include field observations and post mortems. Further details of the monitoring protocols are available online at the following link and I have also placed copies in the Library of the House.
	http://www.defra.gov.uk/animal-diseases/a-z/bovine-tb/badgers/badger-culling-pilots/
	The independent panel will evaluate the pilots before reporting back to Government. Ministers will then decide whether the policy should be rolled out more widely.

Cattle: Vaccination

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what the current status is of his discussions with the European Commission on cattle vaccine trials in England; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what recent progress he has made on discussions with the European Commission on cattle vaccine trials in England; and if he will make a statement.

David Heath: EU Commissioner Tonio Borg wrote to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the right hon. Member for North Shropshire (Mr Paterson), on 14 January 2013 setting out the substantial scientific evidence that will be needed before any decision can be taken on lifting the current EU ban on cattle vaccination. For that reason, his view is that it would be reasonable to expect the full process to take 10 years. The Secretary of State and I will continue to discuss this important issue with the Commissioner as and when the need arises.
	We are looking for ways to accelerate the work we were already doing on the required experimental research and planning the subsequent large scale trialling of the vaccine that the Commissioner regards as the essential next step. We hope to have successfully completed all the experimental work, including studies on safety of meat and milk, during 2014 so that we can make an application to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate for an Animal Test Certificate to begin the necessary field trials.

Dairy Products: Exports

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he is taking to work with UK Trade and Investment to increase the volume of exports of English dairy products.

David Heath: The Government is helping industry to address the current dairy trade deficit by increasing the proportion of British dairy products sold in the domestic market and by increasing exports.
	DEFRA and UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) are working closely together and with the dairy industry to drive growth. They are increasing the dairy industry's awareness of and capability for exporting, as part of DEFRA and UKTI's Exports Action Plan and UKTI's business plan for food and drink sectors which includes specific work with the dairy sector.
	Key work includes:
	seminars;
	improved liaison and exports services;
	supporting applications for protected food names;
	developing a “British dairy message” to work alongside both the GREAT campaign and commercial brands; and
	assisting dairy companies to reach new markets through international trade missions.

Food: Prices

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the implications of recent price movements in the Consumer Price Index for (a) food and non-alcoholic beverages and (b) vegetable products for people's dietary choices.

David Heath: holding answer 10 June 2013
	DEFRA actively monitors retail food prices and their impact on household expenditure through its Family Food Survey. We know that some households are seeing the amount they spend on food and non-alcoholic beverages increase and there is evidence that households are trading down to cheaper products. On average in 2011 food and non-alcoholic beverages accounted for 11.3% of all household expenditure, up from 10.8% in 2008.
	The amount UK households spend on fresh and processed vegetables has been increasing, reflecting price increases. However, the 2011 Family Food Survey reported that in 2011 purchases of '5 a day' were unchanged for the third consecutive year, at an average of four portions per person per day.
	Public Health England, in partnership with Health Departments across the UK, monitors the food consumption and nutrient intakes of the general population using data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS). Results from the survey are published regularly, and are reviewed by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN). The most recent results were published in July 2012.(1)
	We work internationally to promote transparency, open global markets and a competitive domestic market to help producers and retailers offer the best prices to consumers.
	(1) Bates B, Lennox A, Prentice A, Bates C, and Swan G (Eds.) (2012) National Diet and Nutrition Survey. Headline results from Years 1, 2 and 3 (combined) of the rolling programme (2008-09—2010-11)

Wines

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he is taking to support English wine production.

David Heath: During the 2008 EU Wine Reform the UK successfully negotiated a derogation to allow the scope of UK wine production to increase without the threat of our vine plantings being capped by the controls that exist in the main EU wine producing countries.
	This outcome was warmly welcomed by the English wine industry. The reform also allowed the UK to establish a national programme to assist the development of the domestic wine industry. After consulting with the industry, funding is now being provided through the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) on training to further increase skills and knowledge in this rapidly developing sector. We are also working closely with the UK wine industry to exploit promotion and marketing opportunities offered by the EU scheme for Protected Designations.

Wines

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will visit the Wroxeter Vineyard in Shrewsbury and Atcham constituency to gain information which will assist him in assessing what steps need to be taken to reduce the regulatory burden in that sector.

David Heath: The Government has an ongoing commitment to reduce the regulatory burdens faced by UK business and the public. The Red Tape Challenge was launched as a means to capture ideas on where the regulatory burden could be reduced, to highlight which regulations are working and which ones are not working and to assess where things could be simplified. I would urge the proprietor of Wroxeter Vineyard to submit suggestions to the 'Challenge', which can be done online at:
	www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk
	I would also be interested to see any ideas directly in writing.
	I sincerely hope that at some point in the future I am able to visit Wroxeter Vineyard to see and hear more about our acclaimed and increasingly successful UK wine production sector.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Business: Loans

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many full-time equivalent staff in his Department are currently working on the business bank; in which office these staff are based; in which directorate or directorates they are employed; how many such staff were previously employed in his Department before the business bank work stream was initiated; and how many of those were employed in the same directorate with his Department before the business bank work stream was initiated.

Michael Fallon: There are currently 33.4 full-time equivalent staff working on the business bank initiative from the Department's London and Sheffield offices. These staff are predominantly employed in the Department's Enterprise Directorate and Shareholder Executive directorates. Of these staff, 27 full-time equivalents were previously working in the Department in a range of areas including SME Access to Finance. 3.5 of these full-time equivalents were previously in the Shareholder Executive.

Business: Loans

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to his announcement on 10 April 2013 of additional funding for lending to small and medium-sized enterprises, how many expressions of interest have been received from lenders to date.

Michael Fallon: As at 3 June we had received 50 expressions of interest from a wide variety of lenders. The Investment Programme continues to remain open to new proposals.

Capita

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much his Department currently spends on contracts with Capita; and how much was spent in each year since 2008.

Jo Swinson: Since January 2011, central Government Departments have been required to publish information on the contracts they award at:
	www.contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk/
	In addition, departments publish details of spend at:
	http://data.gov.uk
	The following expenditure with Capita is recorded for the Department (including UK Trade and Investment Admin).
	
		
			 Financial year £ 
			 2008/09 31,092,921 
			 2009/10 89,783 
			 2010/11 335,704 
			 2011/12 390,576 
			 2012/13 1,872,226 
			 2013/14 (up to 4 June 2013) 580,523 
		
	
	This data excludes NDPBs as this information is not held centrally.
	The majority of the expenditure for 2008/09 relates to the contract for the Coal Health scheme. This area of work fell under the Department's remit prior to the formation of the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
	The majority of expenditure since 2012/13 has been made under framework agreements. These agreements cover both generic training and development, and the recruitment of specialist contractors and interims within the Department.

Charity Research Support Fund

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans he has to support the Charity Research Support Fund.

David Willetts: The Government recognise the significant contribution made by charitable funders of research. The charity support element of Quality Related research funding, provided by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, recognises the public benefit arising from research funded by charities.
	The Government is committed to reducing the deficit and rebalancing the economy to achieve sustainable growth—for which the UK's excellent research base will be a vital national asset. I cannot anticipate the outcome of the spending review which will determine levels of future funding and subsequent detailed allocations.

Credit: Advertising

George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to ban the advertising of payday loans on television.

Jo Swinson: The Government is very concerned at aggressive, misleading advertising which lures consumers into a payday loan when it is not suitable for them. It is not right to see payday advertising outside job centres, as the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) found, nor is it right for adverts to emphasise speed and ease of access at the expense of giving customers balanced information about the cost of lending. This is why Government and regulators announced in March this year a strong action plan with both immediate and longer-term measures.
	In the short-term, the OFT are taking stringent action on non-compliant payday lenders as a top enforcement priority. Then, from April next year, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will take on responsibility for regulating consumer credit. Its strong new powers will enable it to restrict the form and content of advertising and will provide further consumer protections. This Department is in the process of commissioning research into payday lending advertising to help inform the FCA's thinking on how to apply their rules in this area.
	The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) also have a role in tackling payday lending advertising. If they deem a particular advert to be potentially misleading or socially irresponsible, they can ban it. Indeed, only recently they banned a payday loan advert by PDB UK Ltd, trading as Cash Lady, on these grounds. Their ruling can be accessed at:
	www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2013/5/PDB-UK-Ltd/SHP_ADJ_219095.aspx
	The ASA have recently issued a consumer information statement on their website setting out their role and urging consumers to contact them if they see a problematic advert. For further details please see:
	www.asa.org.uk/News-resources/Media-Centre/2013/Payday-loan-ads.aspx

Credit: Licensing

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the average waiting time for a consumer credit licence to be issued from the date of application to the date of issue is in (a) Scotland and (b) the rest of the UK.

Jo Swinson: For Scotland, the annual figures for 2010 to 2012 show a range between a mean average of 21 days in 2012 to a mean average of 26 in 2011.
	For England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the annual figures for 2010 to 2012 show a range between a mean average of 23 days in 2012 to a mean average of 27 in 2011.
	
		
			  Total number of applications Mean average processing time (working days) 
			  2010 2011 2012 2010 2011 2012 
			 Scotland 507 431 457 23 26 21 
			 England, Wales and Northern Ireland 7,027 6,592 6,455 23 27 23

Employment Tribunals Service

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 13 May 2013, Official Report, column 85W, on unfair dismissal, if he has conducted an evaluation of the effect of the decision to allow employment tribunal judges to sit alone.

Jo Swinson: I refer the hon. Member to my previous response of 13 May 2013, Official Report, column 85W. The Department is working with Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) to collect data to evaluate the impact of a number of employment tribunal policy measures such as employment tribunal judges to sit alone in unfair dismissal cases.

Factories: Foreign Workers

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the role that British businesses can play in ensuring the welfare of workers in factories abroad.

Jo Swinson: Responsible supply chain management is an important issue, which good businesses should understand and take seriously as part of their corporate responsibility activities. From October 2013, listed companies will be required to report on community, employee and human rights issues including through their supply chains.
	Later this year, we will publish a framework for action on corporate responsibility, which will consider, among other things, supply chain management.

Overseas Companies

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what statistics are (a) collected, (b) commissioned and (c) subscribed to by UK Trade and Investment on (i) the number of UK firms operating in each country overseas, (ii) the size of their operations, (iii) the degree of their market penetration and (iv) the performance of UK firms against competitors.

Michael Fallon: UK Trade and Investment relies primarily on statistics collected by a range of other national and international organisations. Details of these sources are set out here by topic. In addition, UKTI commissions an annual survey of around 900 UK firms who export which collects detailed data on international business strategies, modes of engagement in international business, and the size of their international sales relative to their total sales. Full reports on these surveys are available at the following link:
	http://www.ukti.gov.uk/uktihome/aboutukti/ourperformance/research/barrierstointernationalisation.html
	Other sources of statistics used by UKTI:
	(i) The number of firms operating in each country overseas:
	These data are available for the UK for goods exports only, from the following:
	HMRC RTS
	https://www.uktradeinfo.com/Statistics/RTS/Pages/default.aspx
	Eurostat TEC
	http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/international_trade_by_enterprise_characteristics
	(ii) The size of their overseas operations
	UKTI has recently commissioned academic researchers from LSE to undertake analysis of data on this topic from the ONS International Trade in Services Survey and on HMRC data on goods exports. Results for the goods exports analysis are expected in July, and on the analysis of services data later this year.
	Some data on the value of firms' overseas sales are also collected annually for a sample of firms through the UKTI ‘Internationalisation Strategies, Barriers, and Awareness’ survey, cited above. This survey does not collect data on size of operations within any individual overseas country.
	(iii) the degree of market penetration and (iv) their performance vis-à-vis competitors
	UKTI draws on statistics from a range of international sources for analysis of these issues, as follows. UKTI receives a regular report on UK trade performance globally and in 29 key markets, which is prepared by BIS statisticians using these international sources. The ways in which these statistical sources are used to investigate these issues in further depth are illustrated in a recent BIS Economics Paper on UK trade performance across markets and sectors, available at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-trade-performance-across-markets-and-sectors
	HMRC OTS
	https://www.uktradeinfo.com/
	Various ONS trade and FDI publications
	http://www.ons.gov.uk
	UN Comtrade
	http://comtrade.un.org/
	UN Services Trade
	http://unstats.un.org/unsd/servicetrade/default.aspx
	ITC/TradeMap
	http://www.trademap.org/tm_light/SelectionMenu.aspx
	OECD.stat
	http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx
	Eurostat Easy Comext
	http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/newxtweb/mainxtnet.do
	UNCTAD.stat
	http://unctadstat.unctad.org/TableViewer/tableView.aspx
	World Trade Organization (WTO)
	http://stat.wto.org/StatisticalProgram/WSDBStatProgramHome.aspx?Lanquage=E

Overseas Companies: Developing Countries

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to improve the transparency of UK companies operating in developing countries.

Jo Swinson: We have successfully pressed for strong rules within the accounting directive to ensure that oil, gas, mining and forestry companies report the payments they make to governments in all of the countries where they operate. These rules will apply to all large and listed companies across the EU. This is designed to shine a light on where this money is actually going, allowing citizens to hold their governments to account over how it is spent and ensure the sale of their natural resources benefits the many, not the few.
	Last month, the UK Government signed up to the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI); a global standard ensuring transparency in this sector. It is important that we get our own house in order if we are to influence other countries. As the UK's EITI Champion, I am responsible for driving implementation in the UK, working with industry and civil society to ensure we provide information that stimulates public debate. The first public event designed to shape the UK's EITI will be held on 9 July 2013 at the BIS Conference Centre.

Overseas Trade: BRIC Countries

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the importance of improving bilateral trading relationships with the BRIC countries.

Michael Fallon: The 2011 Trade & Investment for Growth White Paper set out the reasons why it is in the UK national interest to ensure Britain can take advantage of opportunities for future prosperity through bilateral trade and investment with Brazil, Russia, India and China.
	Following on from this, UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, deployed a range of criteria in its 2011 corporate strategy to assess which emerging and high growth markets to focus on. These included:
	market size and potential for growth; the Government's assessment of their strategic political and economic importance; an assessment of the security situation; strength of scientific, technical and research base; performance of UK businesses relative to competitors; market match with UK capability; and the presence of active local partners keen to strengthen trading links with the UK.
	These criteria enabled UKTI to identify twenty markets (including Brazil, Russia, India and China) where efforts to improve bilateral trade will particularly benefit UK growth. The Government is also among the main advocates for the EU's work to liberalise trade with these economies, through the EU's ambitious programme of bilateral trade negotiations and through work at the World Trade Organisation.
	Between 2009 and 2012 UK goods exports to Brazil increased by 49%, to Russia by 133%, to India by 59% and to China by 96%, demonstrating the importance of bilateral trade with these markets.

Overseas Trade: Central America

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs about the potential for improving the UK's bilateral trading relationship with countries in Central America.

Michael Fallon: In conjunction with other ministerial colleagues, including the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), the National Security Council regularly reviews the UK's bilateral trading relationships on a global basis.
	The Government is also among the principal advocates for the EU's work to liberalise trade, be that through the EU's ambitious programme of bilateral trade negotiations or through work at the World Trade Organisation, with a view to overcoming tariff and non-tariff barriers that UK companies face when trying to export manufactured goods. Six of the seven Central American countries have signed an Association Agreement with the European Union; the agreement includes a large trade chapter.
	It is also the Government's commitment to give new energy to the relationship the UK has with Latin America. Our objective is to reinvigorate relationships and place ourselves as partner of choice in the region. We have strengthened our diplomatic presence on the ground and significantly increased the number of ministerial visits. Under what has now become known as the Canning Agenda, we have established a network of prosperity officers in the region which enables us to remove some of the barriers to trade and develop commercial opportunities for UK business in the region.
	Our engagement activity in Central America is resulting in enhanced and deepened bilateral relationships. Last November a new British embassy opened in El Salvador. We have also established a stronger relationship with Panama. Our assistance in the recent establishment of the British International School in Panama will promote the English language and British educational expertise in support of Panama's education reforms. The UK trade mission to Nicaragua in February 2013 was the first in many years and is a concrete example of how UK businesses are re-engaging with the region.

Refrigeration

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps to support the natural refrigerant sector in the UK the Government (a) has taken in the last three years and (b) is planning to take.

Michael Fallon: The chemicals industry, including natural refrigerants producers, is extremely important to the UK economy and its transition to a low carbon economy.
	Government is supporting this sector in a number of ways:
	in April 2011 we extended the Capital Allowances Short Life Asset Regime for plant and machinery from four years to eight years;
	for the period April 2012 to 31 March 2017 we have introduced 100% Enhanced Capital Allowances for certain plant and machinery expenditure; and
	in January 2013 we increased the Annual Investment Allowance from £25,000 to £250,000 for two years.
	To drive technological innovation and future economic growth we have established a network of seven High Value Catapult centres, as well as the first High Value Manufacturing Catapult, with a £140 million commitment over a six-year period through to 2017.
	We have also invested in a £61.5 million portfolio of Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Centres. Working with Catapults and in conjunction with industry, EPSRCs will enable business to access advanced technologies. To reinforce this, four EPSRC £1 million, commercially-focused, manufacturing fellowships have been established; a third call of which has also been issued.

Teachers: Training

Graham Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what consideration he has given to extending the chemistry initial teacher training scholarship scheme to primary school initial teacher training.

David Laws: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Education.
	The purpose of the scholarship scheme is to provide support to subjects where there are difficulties recruiting sufficient high-quality candidates to initial teacher training (ITT). Through our bursary scheme, we currently recruit sufficient high-quality candidates to primary ITT. Therefore, we have no current plans to extend the chemistry ITT scholarship scheme to primary ITT.

Textiles: Apprentices

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many apprenticeships have been created in the textiles industry in (a) Barnsley Central constituency, (b) South Yorkshire and (c) England in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011 and (iii) 2012.

Matthew Hancock: The following table shows the number of apprenticeship programme starts in the 'Fashion and Textiles' Framework in: Barnsley Central constituency, Yorkshire and the Humber and England. Final data are shown for the 2009/10 to 2011/12 academic years. We publish apprenticeship starts at region, local education authority and parliamentary constituency levels of geography, therefore data for South Yorkshire is not presented.
	
		
			 Apprenticeship Programme Starts in the 'Fashion and Textiles' Framework by Geography, 2009/10 to 2011/12 
			 Geography 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 
			 Barnsley Central Parliamentary Constituency * * * 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 10 20 40 
			 England total 20 90 190 
			 Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. "*" indicates a base value of less than 5. 2. Geographic breakdowns are based upon the home postcode of the learner. 3. Figures are based on the geographic boundaries as of May 2010. Source: Individualised Learner Record

Trade Promotion

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to encourage nations outside the EU to purchase UK-manufactured goods.

Michael Fallon: UK Trade & Investment's (UKTI) corporate strategy, Britain Open for Business, sets out how we will encourage nations outside the EU to purchase UK goods by offering British companies expert advice and practical support through a range of programmes that help them succeed internationally. This includes focusing our customers' attention on 20 high growth and emerging markets of particular potential, and prioritising our efforts on sectors offering greatest opportunity for the UK.
	In support of these efforts, the autumn statement in December 2012 announced a £70 million increase in UKTI's annual budget to help deliver services to more exporters and help refocus UKTI activities on the highest value opportunities and emerging markets.
	The Government are also among the main advocates for the EU's work to liberalise trade, be that through the EU's ambitious programme of bilateral trade negotiations or through work at the World Trade Organisation, with a view to overcoming tariff and non-tariff barriers that UK companies face when trying to export manufactured goods. The UK has pushed hard for the launch of trade negotiations with our major non-EU trading partners such as the USA and Japan and for negotiations with high-growth emerging markets such as those in the ASEAN bloc. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister is prioritising trade liberalisation in his role as current chair of the G8.
	In addition, the Government's GREAT campaign showcases the very best of what Britain has to offer. The Government is focused on driving the campaign forward in key markets (China, India, US and Brazil), and targeting a number of new emerging markets outside the EU where GREAT can help the UK gain a competitive advantage for the future.

HEALTH

NHS Services: England and Wales

Jesse Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that residents in England registered with GP practices in Wales have access to NHS services in England.

Anna Soubry: I recently met with my hon. Friend the Member for Forest of Dean (Mr Harper), and the Secretary of State for Wales, my right hon. Friend the Member for Clwyd West (Mr Jones), on the issue of English patients registered with Welsh GP practices accessing English NHS services. I have asked NHS England to look into this issue and to work with the Welsh Assembly Government to reach a satisfactory solution for English patients.

Accident and Emergency Departments

Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the performance of hospital accident and emergency departments.

Anna Soubry: Performance in hospital accident and emergency departments continues to improve.
	Latest figures for the week ending 2 June 2013 show 96.8% of patients were seen within four hours. This is the sixth consecutive week the standard has been achieved.
	This is the highest performing week since September 2012.

Tobacco Packaging

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on the introduction of standardised tobacco packaging; and if he will make a statement.

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on the introduction of standardised tobacco packaging; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: The Government have not yet made a decision on this policy. This is an important decision and one that will only be taken after full consideration of the consultation responses, evidence and other relevant information. A report of the consultation will be published in due course.

Obesity

Caroline Nokes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure co-ordinated work to tackle obesity levels in the UK.

Anna Soubry: ‘A Call to Action on Obesity in England’, a copy of which has already been placed in the Library, sets out our strategy and the role of key partners in the new public health system. We are working closely with other partners, including business. We have set out two new national ambitions for achieving a downward trend in the level of excess weight by 2020.

Ambulance Services: East of England

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to require the East of England Ambulance Service to improve service levels.

Anna Soubry: On 1 April 2013, the NHS Trust Development Authority (NHS TDA) took responsibility for the performance management of national health service trusts, the assurance of quality, governance and risk in NHS trusts and the delivery and management of the foundation trust pipeline. The NHS TDA works with all NHS trusts, including the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust, to help them to deliver sustainable, high quality services to the patients they serve.
	As a result of concerns about service delivery, the NHS TDA commissioned a review by Dr Anthony Marsh to look into the governance arrangements at the trust. This review has been completed and the report will be published shortly.
	An interim trust Chair, Dr Geoff Harris, has been appointed and will work closely with the trust chief executive and the executive team to support the delivery of the trust's turnaround plan and performance improvements.

Cancer

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what measures his Department and NHS England will use to improve cancer patient experience across all of the domains of the NHS Outcomes Framework;
	(2)  what plans he has to ensure that providers of NHS funded cancer services and commissioners of those services are held to account for improving cancer patient experience.

Anna Soubry: The Mandate to NHS England requires it to deliver continued improvements in relation to patients' experience of care, including cancer care. This improvement area corresponds to Domain 4 of the NHS Outcomes Framework (NHS OF) ‘Ensuring that people have a positive experience of care’, and NHS England will need to demonstrate progress in improving patients' experience against the specific outcome indicators in the domain. Although there are no disease specific indicators in this domain, those that are included cover a range of national health service care settings which will be relevant to the experiences of cancer patients across all the domains of the NHS OF.
	‘Ensuring that people have a positive experience of care’ is also Domain 4 of the Clinical Commissioning Group Outcomes Indicator Set (CCG OIS). The CCG OIS indicators in this domain, many of which are shared with the NHS OF, will both hold CCGs to account for—and provide information for the public on—improvements in patient experience achieved through commissioning services from providers.

Capita

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department currently spends on contracts with Capita; and how much was spent in each year since 2008.

Daniel Poulter: Information on the Department's spend with Capita for all financial years from 2008-09 to 2012-13 is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 £ 
			 Spend (Excluding VAT) 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Grand total 
			 Capita Business Services Ltd 4,468,977 30,012,514 27,752,082 4,948,629 965,277 68,147,480 
			 Capita Business Travel Ltd — 13,806 93 — — 13,899 
			 Capita Health Solutions Colchester 361 2,042 2,383 1,422 994 7,201 
			 Capita Registrars Ltd 20,000 — — — — 20,000 
			 Capita Resourcing Ltd 217,138 888,221 852,588 1,544,050 10,352,401 13,854,399 
			 Capita Secure Information Systems Ltd — — — 2,500 — 2,500 
			 Capua SHG Resourcing 688,674 478,378 836,875 460,371 13,320 2,477,618 
			 Capita Symonds Ltd 73,082 394,271 202,463 184,172 152,206 1,006,194 
			 Grand Total 5,468,232 31,789,233 29,646,484 7,141,144 11,484,198 85,529,291 
		
	
	In July 2008, the Department implemented a new business management system (BMS) which collects enhanced detail on the categorisation, purpose and value of orders. This has now given the Department the scope to be more specific about the nature of each categorisation. However, information on the period of engagement prior to this is not held on BMS.

Emergency Services

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions his Department has had with the Department for Communities and Local Government on steps to enable local fire and rescue services to take over responsibilities for emergency ambulance response red 1 and red 2.

Anna Soubry: The Department has been in discussions with the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Home Office about promoting greater collaboration between emergency services, where appropriate.
	Closer co-operation between the emergency services is clearly desirable and should be encouraged and incentivised, within the bounds of what is reasonably practicable and affordable. However, any more wide-ranging measures designed to bring the ambulance services and other emergency services together, operationally and/or legally, would have to have a clear evidence base in terms of clear benefits, not only in monetary terms, but also in terms of clinical outcomes for patients.

General Practitioners

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what amount was paid to GPs for fulfilling the Record 2 indicator of the Quality Outcomes Framework on legibility of records under the terms of the 2004 GP contract in each year in which that indicator was in force.

Daniel Poulter: The Record 2 indicator was included in the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) in 2004-05 and 2005-06. The Health and Social Care Information Centre has advised that data available cover general practices in England, although Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland also have a QOF.
	
		
			  Number of participating practices in QOF Record 2 QOF points achieved Amount paid to GP practice per achievement point gained (£) Total cost (£) 
			 2004-05 8,576 8,327 75 624,525 
			 2005-06 8,409 8,300 124.60 1,034,180 
			 Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre, Statement of Financial Entitlements 2005 and 2006 
		
	
	The Records 2 indicator was worth 1 point. In 2004-05 practices were paid £75 per point achieved, and this was increased to £124.60 in 2005-06. Over the two years the indicator was in use, a total of £1,658,705 was paid for the achievement of the Records 2 indicator.
	Participation by practices in QOF is voluntary; however participation rates are high.

Health Education: Young People

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what incentives he has given to health and well-being boards to encourage them to invest in drug and alcohol prevention work aimed at young people.

Norman Lamb: Local authority commissioners are working through health and well-being boards to develop a comprehensive analysis of health and social care needs in each local area in joint strategic needs assessments, and to translate these into action through joint health and well-being strategies and their own commissioning plans, including for public health. This will provide an opportunity for needs around drug prevention to be identified and addressed as appropriate through action by the local authority and other partners.
	One of the most effective approaches for preventing young people from using drugs is to improve their general life skills and resilience. The Department's Youth Social Marketing Strategy will set out how we intend to help young people build these skills and be able to make sensible choices on a wide range of risky behaviours, including drug use. The Public Health Grant allocated to local authorities during 2013-14 includes funding for the Healthy Child Programme for five to 19-year-olds.
	The Public Health Outcomes Framework (2012) is designed to help us keep track of how well we are doing in improving and protecting the nation's health based on a number of indicators. A copy of the framework has already been placed in the Library. Work is now taking place to develop a Health Premium Incentive Scheme, based on these indicators, which will reward local authorities for progress in improving the health of their local populations and reducing health inequalities. Details on the high-level design of the incentive scheme were included in ‘Healthy Lives, Healthy People: Update on Public Health Funding’ (2012). A copy has already been placed in the Library.

Health Services

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department has given to clinical commissioning groups and health and well-being boards on coordinating health commissioning for people with (a) alcohol addiction, (b) drugs addiction and (c) dual-diagnosis mental health and addiction problems.

Norman Lamb: For the treatment system to be effective it needs to be locally led and locally owned, with local authorities and clinical commissioning groups, working with health and wellbeing boards, to identify the health and social care needs of local areas and developing a strategy for addressing these needs. The role for central Government is carrying out research to develop and publish an evidence base as to ‘what works’ and in promoting the sharing of best practice.
	In March 2013, the Department published statutory guidance to support health and wellbeing boards undertake Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies. This focuses on the methodology for producing comprehensive and high quality assessments and strategies, and emphasises the importance of these being locally-owned processes for developing evidence based priorities for commissioning. This is in addition to previous guidance issued by the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse and by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence which dealt with specific subjects, such as maternity services for women with alcohol and/or drug addiction.
	Public Health England provides local authority commissioners and health and wellbeing boards with an annual Joint Strategic Needs Assessment support pack to help them identify local priorities on alcohol and drug .prevention, treatment and recovery. The pack includes bespoke prevalence figures and National Drug Treatment Monitoring System data as well as key principles that they might consider when developing plans for an integrated recovery systems.

Hospices

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to his Department's announcement of 10 April 2013, when the hospices allocated funding under the capital grants programme will formally receive funds.

Norman Lamb: In the last week NHS England, with the assistance of Help the Hospices, have been able to confirm all 179 grants to all organisations who were previously notified of their award in March. Funds are being made available as required in line with the conditions of the grant and the needs of each schemes and each recipient is now aware of how to access these funds.
	The investment of £60 million in the hospice movement is a sign of our commitment to supporting hospices with their crucial work and will benefit patients throughout the country.

Legal Costs

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the 20 highest amounts paid for external legal advice by his Department were in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012; to whom such payments were paid; and for what reasons the legal advice was sought.

Daniel Poulter: Expenditure on legal advice for the core Department taken from the central procurement system for the three financial years 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13, along with to whom expenditure was made and the reasons for the legal advice is set out in the following tables.
	
		
			 External legal advice expenditure in 2010-11 (excluding VAT) 
			  £ 
			 The Macfarlane Trust 78,185.33 
			 Legal advice provided by Wilsons Solicitors in respect of the implementation of the non-discretionary payments for 2009-10 arising from the Archer Inquiry Report 78,185.33 
			   
			 DLA Piper UK LLP 18,570.75 
			 Legal advice to inform options appraisal, for SCHIN contract 14,100.00 
			 Legal advice provided to the IMS3 procurement project 3,000.00 
			 To provide legal advice to the Department regarding the contract expiry of the NHS Appraisal Toolkit between the Department and SCHIN 1,470.75 
			   
			 MFET Ltd 15,439.16 
			 Legal advice provided by Wilsons Solicitors in respect of the implementation of the non-discretionary payments for 2009-10 arising from the Archer Inquiry Report 15,439.16 
			   
			 The Eileen Trust 7,404.85 
			 Legal advice provided by Wilsons Solicitors in respect of the implementation of the non-discretionary payments for 2009-10 arising from the Archer Inquiry Report 7,404.85 
			   
			 Skipton Fund Ltd 2,462.16 
			 Legal advice provided by Wilsons Solicitors in respect of the implementation of the non-discretionary payments for 2009-10 arising from the Archer Inquiry Report 2,462.16 
			 Grand total 122,062.25 
		
	
	
		
			 Expenditure on external legal advice in 2011-12 (excluding VAT) 
			  £ 
			 DLA Piper UK LLP 87,220.00 
			 Provision of legal advice to support the procurement of Managed Customer Contact Services for PIPP 87,000.00 
			 To provide legal advice to the Department regarding the contract expiry of the NHS Appraisal Toolkit between the Department and SCHIN 220.00 
			   
			 Mills And Reeve LLP 77,833.25 
			 Full Business Case for legal advice for CMU 77,833.25 
			   
			 Hempsons Solicitors 39,599.07 
			 Legal advice in relation to the Mid Staffordshire Inquiry 39,599.07 
			   
			 Wilsons Solicitors LLP 19,682.00 
			 Wilsons Solicitors charges for their Legal advice for the setting up of the Caxton Foundation over the periods: 25 November 2010 to 2 March 2011 and 3 March to 28 March 2011 19,682.00 
			   
			 Blake Lapthorn 3,895.60 
			 Provision of legal advice and services 3,895.60 
			   
			 Capsticks Solicitors LLP 2,350.00 
			 Urgent legal advice to the MMC team 1,410.00 
			 Legal advice supplied to aid the development of an retention initiative for Strategic Health Authorities and Primary Care Trusts during the transition process 940.00 
			   
			 Shoosmiths 577.00 
			 Legal Professional Advice for Carers Direct Trade Mark 577.00 
			 Grand total 231,156.92 
		
	
	
		
			 Expenditure on external legal advice in 2012-13 (excluding VAT) 
			  £ 
			 Hempsons Solicitors 70,915.48 
			 Legal advice relating to Mid-Staffs Public Inquiry 70,915.48 
			   
			 Norton Rose LLP 12,574.88 
			 Legal advice in relation to judicial review proceedings in which DH is an interested party 12,574.88 
			   
			 Mills And Reeve LLP 1,474.75 
			 Full Business Case for Legal Advice for CMU 1,474.75 
			   
			 Blake Lapthorn 1,190.00. 
			 RDG271—St. James' Ct, Balham—provision of legal advice and services 1,190.00 
			   
			 Capsticks Solicitors LLP 420.00 
			 Provision of legal advice 420.00 
			 Grand total 86,575.11

Legal Costs

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent on external legal advice from Queen's Counsel (a) between 7 May 2010 and 4 September 2012 and (b) since 4 September 2012.

Daniel Poulter: The Department does not have available expenditure figures relating to external legal advice obtained from Queen's Counsels between 7 May 2010 and 4 September 2012 and since 4 September 2012.

Legal Costs

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent on external legal advice (a) between 7 May 2010 and 4 September 2012 and (b) since 4 September 2012.

Daniel Poulter: The Department's spend on legal advice between 7 May 2010 and 4 September 2012 and separately since 4 September 2012 are contained in the following table.
	
		
			  £ 
			 Department of Health external legal advice spend between 7 May 2010 and 4 September 2012 358,511.49 
			 Department of Health external legal advice spend since 4 September 2012 8,420.00 
		
	
	These figures relate to the obtaining of legal advice only and therefore exclude fees paid for external legal representation in litigation. The figures above exclude advice by colleagues from the Department for Work and Pensions.

Legal Costs

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the highest day rate paid for external legal advice by his Department since 7 May 2010 was.

Daniel Poulter: The Department does not have central records of individual day rates for external legal advice.

Multiple Sclerosis

George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Risk-Sharing Scheme (RSS) that makes disease-modifying treatments available to those with multiple sclerosis; what steps he is taking to ensure there is a review of the RSS pending publication of 10-year data; and what steps he is taking to ensure that the provision of treatment of multiple sclerosis meet its associated care, support costs and ensures that new treatments for multiple sclerosis are made available to patients.

Norman Lamb: The Multiple Sclerosis Risk Sharing Scheme monitors the actual benefits achieved by the four Risk Sharing Scheme medicines over a 10-year period. Benefits are compared every two years and the data for years four and six are currently being analysed prior to publication. The 10-year data collection is due to be complete in 2015.
	Under the NHS Commissioning Board and Clinical Commissioning Group (Responsibilities and Standing rules) Regulations 2012, national health service commissioners are also required to fund the four multiple sclerosis treatments covered by the Multiple Sclerosis Risk Sharing Scheme for patients meeting the published clinical criteria.
	NHS commissioners are also legally required to fund treatments recommended in National Institute for Health and Care Excellence technology appraisal guidance, including recommended treatments for multiple sclerosis.
	We understand that NHS England is working closely with stakeholders including patient groups and the pharmaceutical industry, through its specialised clinical reference group, to ensure that new treatments are assessed and where clinically appropriate adopted by the NHS in a timely manner, ensuring equitable access for multiple sclerosis sufferers in England.
	Associated care and support costs for multiple sclerosis patients are the responsibility of clinical commissioning groups.

Muscular Dystrophy: West Midlands

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to address the lack of a specialist neuromuscular care adviser and a specialist neuromuscular consultant in the West Midlands since the agreement of funding for those posts in March 2010.

Norman Lamb: On 1 April 2013 NHS England became responsible for commissioning specialised services, improving standards and national consistency. This is intended to guarantee equitable access to services across the country. This includes diagnostic services for adults and children with rare neuromuscular disorders.
	NHS England commissions some elements of neurological services through specialist services commissioning arrangements, which includes specialised neuromuscular services.

NHS: Pensions

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has spent on (a) clinical and (b) non-clinical pensions in the NHS since 2005.

Daniel Poulter: Most staff working in the national health service are entitled to contribute to the NHS Pension Scheme (NHSPS). NHS employers are required to pay employer contributions (currently 14% of pensionable pay) for staff contributing to the scheme.
	It is not possible to provide segregated employer contribution data for the time period specified. However, estimates based on data extracted from the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) since April 2008 are shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Billion 
			 Financial year Clinical Non-clinical 
			 2008-09 3.0 0.8 
			 2009-10 3.2 0.9 
			 2010-11 3.4 0.9 
			 2011-12 3.4 0.9 
			 Source: Electronic Staff Record (ESR) Data Warehouse. 
		
	
	The ESR is the integrated payroll and human resources system for most NHS organisations, which has been in place since April 2008. Validated data on employer pension contributions split by clinical and non-clinical staff is not available. However, it can be estimated for Hospital and Community Health Services Staff using information from ESR Data Warehouse. Estimates for 2012-13 are not yet available.
	For the purposes of these estimates, non-clinical staff are defined as managers, administrative and clerical staff, and maintenance and works staff. Clinical staff includes doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, scientific technical and therapy staff, ambulance staff and their support staff.
	Information provided by the ESR Data Warehouse is a monthly snap shot of the live ESR system. Organisations which do not use ESR include two trusts, Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. In addition this data does not include employer contributions from general practitioners and practice staff working in general practices, general dental practitioners, or social enterprises and local authorities that employ staff with access to the NHSPS.

Prescriptions: Fees and Charges

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many people claimed free prescriptions in each of the last five years; and what the average per person cost was in each such year;
	(2)  what amount his Department spent on free prescriptions in each of the last five years.

Norman Lamb: Information is not collected centrally on the number of people claiming free prescriptions.
	Calculating the costs to the Department of free prescriptions would depend on how individuals might respond if free prescriptions were no longer available, especially if individuals made greater use of the pre-payment certificates. Estimates for the cost to the Department of provision of free prescriptions for the latest available years (2007 to 2011) are shown in the following table:
	
		
			   Estimated cost (£ million) 
			  Number of free prescription items(millions) Scenario 1(1) estimated cost including greater use of pre-payment certificates Scenario 2(2) estimated theoretical maximum cost if no change in use of pre-payment certificates 
			 2007 705 2,545 4,797 
			 2008 785 2,909 5,526 
			 2009 833 3,114 5,975 
			 2010 874 3,281 6,296 
			 2011 910 3,469 6,688 
			 (1 )Scenario 1 assumes that three quarters of the population aged 60 and over would use pre-payment certificates to pay for prescriptions should exemption be withdrawn. (2) The estimated theoretical maximum revenue (Scenario 2) is based on the assumption that all those who receive free prescriptions would pay for prescription charges at the point of dispensing, paying the full price for each prescription item. Source: Numbers of prescription items are taken from prescriptions dispensed in the Community, Statistics for England published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre.

Social Services

David Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what assessment his Department has undertaken of the effects on disabled and older people of increasing the Fair Access to Care Services Criteria in an area;
	(2)  if he will take steps to ensure that services provided by the NHS in Bradford are not affected by any change in the Fair Access to Care Services Criteria made by Bradford Council;
	(3)  what research his Department has undertaken into the effect on the NHS of local authority decisions to increase their Fair Access to Care Services Criteria.

Norman Lamb: In the last spending round the Government prioritised funding for social care, and the settlement allowed local authorities to maintain the current levels of eligibility for care and support. However, under the current legal framework, local authorities are free to set their eligibility threshold for adult social care services. Local authorities base their own threshold in response to local needs and circumstances.
	Bradford council are currently out to consultation on changing their Fair Access to Care Services criteria levels.
	The consultation about Fair Access to Care Services runs until 4 August 2013 and has been discussed at the Bradford Central and Bradford District Clinical Commissioning Group's senior management team meeting. It will form part of their Clinical Board discussions in the next two months. They will be contributing to this consultation.
	There was widespread support during the consultation on the draft Care and Support Bill to introduce national eligibility criteria (formerly known as Fair Access to Care Services). People have told us that the process for determining who is eligible for care and support is confusing and unfair. There will be a single eligibility decision for all types of on-going care and support; This will create a clear and transparent process for all users and carers.
	The Care Bill includes a provision to set the national minimum threshold in regulations. When setting the national minimum threshold we will have to take account of a number of factors. The threshold will be determined as part of the spending round, which will be announced on 26 June.
	Local authorities will be free to set their eligibility threshold at a more generous level but will not be able to tighten them beyond the national minimum threshold. The national minimum threshold will be in place from April 2015, subject to the passage of legislation.
	The Department has not undertaken any research into the effect on the national health service of local authority decisions to increase their Fair Access to Care Services Criteria.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Electoral Register

Chris Evans: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his most recent estimate is of the number of unregistered voters.

Chloe Smith: The Government do not hold this information. However, the Cabinet Office has funded research by the Electoral Commission into the completeness and accuracy of the electoral registers in Great Britain. The Commission has also undertaken research on continuous electoral registration in Northern Ireland.
	Reports based on this research are available on the Electoral Commission's website:
	http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voter-registration/individual-electoral-registration/research-on-voter-registration

General Elections: Voting Behaviour

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many and what proportion of (a) registered voters and (b) people who were entitled to vote voted in each general election in the last 30 years.

Chloe Smith: The number of registered parliamentary electors who voted in UK general elections in the last 30 years is set out in the following table:
	
		
			 General election turnouts since 1983 
			  Turnout (million) Proportion (percentage) 
			 1983 30.67 72.7 
			 1987 32.53 75.3 
			 1992 33.61 77.7 
			 1997 31.29 71.4 
			 2001 26.37 59.4 
			 2005 27.15 61.4 
			 2010 29.69 65.1 
		
	
	The Office for National Statistics has advised that no data are collected on the number of people who are eligible to vote but who choose not to register.

TRANSPORT

Accountancy

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the names, job titles, area of work, term of appointment and civil service equivalent grade are of personnel currently seconded to his Department from the big four accountancy firms.

Norman Baker: The Department for Transport does not have any personnel currently seconded to the Department from the big four accountancy firms.

Capita

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department currently spends on contracts with Capita; and how much was spent in each year since 2008.

Norman Baker: The level of expenditure by the Department for Transport on contracts with Capita since 2008 is shown in the table below.
	
		
			 £ 
			 Agency 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14* Total 
			 DfTc 3,292,972 3,797,465 1,546,758 1,019,243 1,792,431 336,656 11,785,525 
			 DSA 11,913,055 7,779,721 9,612,056 10,410,338 9,480,105 846,036 50,041,311 
			 DVLA 455,210 182,555 14,084 1,486,248 8,306,362 674,457 11,118,918 
			 HA 4,736,596 6,600,821 6,857,369 2,392,999 2,397,981 747,456 23,733,221 
			 MCA 2,781,519 3,426,064 1,608,832 3,184,729 3,710,924 57,152 14,769,220 
			 VCA 90,688 59,862 87,437 97,307 81,967 0 417,260 
			 VOSA 2,008,334 163,375 36,215 1,897 5,886 171 2,215,878 
		
	
	
		
			 TOTAL 25,278,375 22,009,864 19,762,751 18,592,760 25,775,655 2,661,928 114,081,333 
			 * Spend as of 5 June 2013.

Driving: Licensing

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent meetings (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have had with the Post Office to discuss the implementation of new digital technology to process driving licence applications in post offices.

Stephen Hammond: Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published every quarter and this information can be accessed on the Gov.uk website via the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-transparency-data#meetings

East Coast Railway Line

Alistair Darling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the franchise for the East Coast Main Line will be put out to tender; and when he expects the contract to be awarded.

Simon Burns: When the Secretary of State for Transport announced the new schedule for rail refranchising on 26 March 2013 he also published the Prior Information Notice (PIN) detailing the key dates of the new East Coast Main Line programme:
	
		
			 Franchise Publish OJEU Issue ITT Contract award Franchise start 
			 East Coast October 2013 February 2014 October 2014 February 2015

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Steven Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will commission new survey data for use in calculating the benefits of High Speed 2 to business travellers.

Simon Burns: The HS2 appraisal is consistent with the Department's standard transport appraisal guidance (WebTAG) used across all departmental transport schemes. WebTAG is kept under continuous review and is updated annually to ensure that the appraisal of the Department's spending is based on the best available evidence and analysis.
	When necessary the Department will commission new survey data to inform appraisal and where appropriate this will be applied to HS2.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Steven Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when HS2 Ltd will (a) complete and (b) publish an independent audit of passenger demand forecasts and analysis.

Simon Burns: The analysis of HS2 conducted to inform the next update to the Business Case will be conducted in line with the recommendations outlined in the MacPherson report ‘Review of Quality Assurance of Government models’ which contains recommendations on independent audit.
	HS2 Ltd aims to publish key documents which describe the assurance process applied to this analytical work later this year.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Steven Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he plans to review his Department's benefit to cost ratio for High Speed 2 to take into account the assumptions on the relationship between passenger numbers and GDP growth that were published in August 2012.

Simon Burns: The HS2 appraisal is consistent with the Department's standard transport appraisal guidance (WebTAG) used across all departmental transport schemes. WebTAG is kept under continuous review and is updated annually to ensure that the appraisal of the Department's spending is based on the best available evidence and analysis.
	The Economic Case for HS2 will be updated to support the Phase 2 consultation and the passage of the Hybrid Bill. This update will use the latest evidence available and will be consistent with WebTAG guidance.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has undertaken an evaluation of the proposal to restore the Stonebridge Railway and link it with the High Speed 2 interchange at Stonebridge; and what assessment he has made of the effect that this proposal would have on connectivity between the High Speed 2 interchange and (a) Coventry, (b) Nuneaton, (c) Tamworth and (d) the wider region.

Patrick McLoughlin: The proposal for the restoration of the Stonebridge Railway and a link to HS2 would be a regional rail scheme rather than an integral part of HS2. It is, therefore, for the relevant local transport authorities to consider and determine if they wish to prioritise it.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

James Wharton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to ensure that the Hybrid Bill process for High Speed 2 is compliant with (a) the public participation requirements of the Aarhus Convention and (b) the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive. [R]

Patrick McLoughlin: The Government intends to lay a motion in the House proposing that Standing Orders are amended to address these requirements. In particular they would incorporate a period of consultation on the Environmental Statement between introduction and second reading for projects promoted via a hybrid Bill. This follows the precedent set by the Crossrail Act and will ensure that the decisions made at Second and Third Reading on HS2 are informed by the public's views on its environmental effects.
	It will be for the House to decide whether these changes should be made but the Government's intention is that the motion should be laid later this month.

Legal Costs

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what the 20 highest amounts paid for external legal advice by his Department were in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012; to whom such payments were paid; and for what reasons the legal advice was sought;
	(2)  how much his Department spent on external legal advice from Queen's Counsel (a) between 7 May 2010 and 4 September 2012 and (b) since 4 September 2012;
	(3)  how much his Department spent on external legal advice (a) between 7 May 2010 and 4 September 2012 and (b) since 4 September 2012.

Norman Baker: The Department can only provide complete information regarding its spend on external legal advice, including advice from Queen's Counsel, for the periods in question at disproportionate cost.
	However, some information is available from its central finance systems and those of its executive agencies, where that information has been held in an appropriate format and where it may be possible to disaggregate legal advice costs from other costs. Where this information is readily available it will be summarised into a table to be deposited in the Libraries of the House.

Legal Costs

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the highest day rate paid for external legal advice by his Department since 7 May 2010 was.

Norman Baker: The Department for Transport does not procure or contract external legal services on a day rate basis. Charges may be set on a by case basis or are chargeable per minute. However, central records show that the highest equivalent day rate paid by this Department for external legal advice since May 2010, based on an eight hour day was 5,400.

Light Dues

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he plans to review the level of light dues in the remainder of this parliament.

Stephen Hammond: Light dues levels are reviewed annually, in conjunction with the Lights Advisory Committee, who represent the views of the shipping industry.

Motor Vehicles: Testing

David Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many road (a) accidents, (b) fatalities and (c) serious injuries have involved vehicles exempt from MOT requirements in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Stephen Hammond: The five years of figures available are as follows:
	
		
			  Total accidents Number of people killed Number of people seriously injured 
			 2007 100 4 20 
			 2008 85 8 24 
			 2009 55 6 14 
			 2010 81 0 14 
			 2011 64 2 10

Motor Vehicles: Testing

David Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent representations he has received on removing the MOT exemption for mobile cranes which use public roads.

Stephen Hammond: In the last 12 months I have received representations from three MPs, an MSP, a private individual and two trade bodies. I have advised them that I am waiting for the outcome of the negotiations on European Roadworthiness Regulations currently being finalised before considering amending our domestic legislation.

Motor Vehicles: Testing

David Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 in ensuring that vehicles exempted from MOT testing requirements meet road safety standards.

Stephen Hammond: There has been no recent assessment of the The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. Road safety standards are covered by other legislation.

Piers

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what funds his Department makes available to upgrade local authority managed seafront piers.

Stephen Hammond: The Department for Transport does not provide grants to local authorities for the maintenance of piers. Local authority managed piers may be eligible for support under the Coastal Communities Fund, jointly managed by the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Big Lottery Fund, where they meet the key criteria on job creation and growth.

Railways: Medway

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the number of passengers on trains to London from (a) Gillingham station and (b) Rainham station in each of the last five years.

Simon Burns: The Department does not hold this information. Southeastern is responsible for running these services and may be able to provide further information.

Railways: Windermere

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to electrify the Windermere branch line; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: Network Rail and Train Operators are currently developing a business case for proposed electrification between Windermere and Oxhenholme. I expect the study to conclude later in the year.

Rescue Services: Aberdeen

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what the reasons are for the time taken to upgrade Aberdeen's coastguard co-ordination centre;
	(2)  when he expects Aberdeen's coastguard co-ordination centre to be upgraded.

Stephen Hammond: As was outlined in my predecessor's announcement to the House on 22 November 2011, Official Report, column 161, the transition to the new structure will happen progressively up to March 2015.
	The current plan is that, following the National Maritime Operations Centre (NMOC) becoming operational, the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Aberdeen will migrate into the new national network and become a Coastguard Operations Centre (CGOC) during financial year 2014/15.
	The implementation of the programme is driven by operational requirements and therefore migration and closure dates are subject to ongoing review.

Rescue Services: Aberdeen

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish all (a) reports and (b) correspondence received by (i) his Department and (ii) the Marine and Coastguard Agency regarding safety issues relating to long-term staff shortages at Aberdeen coastguard co-ordination station.

Stephen Hammond: Neither the Department for Transport nor the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) have received reports or correspondence relating to safety issues or long term staff shortages at the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Aberdeen which have caused the MCA any concern. The Agency actively keeps its operational capability at all Coastguard Centres under careful review and takes action to manage safety risks through, for example, collaborative working and technical pairing across centres.

Rescue Services: Aberdeen

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  for what reasons Aberdeen's coastguard co-ordination centre was not fully staffed for the year ended March 2013;
	(2)  what measures are in place to ensure that Aberdeen's coastguard maintains a full complement of staff at all times.

Stephen Hammond: The Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Aberdeen was not fully staffed for the year ended March 2013 due to retirements, resignations and ill health. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is currently engaged in recruitment activity to fill the existing vacancies.
	Where MRCCs are experiencing reduced staffing levels the MCA is utilising existing “pairing” arrangements and other support measures as necessary to maintain operational integrity. Regarding Aberdeen specifically, during periods of reduced manning the pairing arrangements enable support to be through a fixed link from the MRCC in Shetland and via dial up links from the MRCCs in Belfast, Stornoway, Humber or Liverpool.

Rescue Services: Aberdeen

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent assessment he has made of staff morale at Aberdeen coastguard co-ordination centre.

Stephen Hammond: During any major change initiative like the Future Coastguard Programme it is recognised that all affected staff will experience differing individual emotions which will inevitably have an impact on collective morale. It is the responsibility of both senior and local managers to support staff through the period of change and this is being undertaken at all maritime rescue co-ordination centres including Aberdeen. For example the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has signed a pre-redundancy agreement with the trade unions which outlines the steps that will be taken to avoid compulsory redundancies.

Roads: Yorkshire and the Humber

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  how many road closures there have been in (a) Brigg and Goole constituency and (b) Yorkshire and the Humber in each of the last five years;
	(2)  for what period of time roads in (a) Brigg and Goole constituency and (b) Yorkshire and the Humber have been closed in each of the last five years.

Norman Baker: This information is not held centrally as individual traffic authorities are responsible for road closures within their areas.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

British Indian Ocean Territory

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with his (a) US and (b) Mauritian counterpart on the future of the British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Islands).

Mark Simmonds: I have had no recent discussions on the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) with my US counterparts. Foreign and Commonwealth Office and State Department officials have regular discussions about all bilateral matters, including BIOT. The most recent US-UK BIOT Pol-Mil annual talks were held in London in October 2012. BIOT is often raised in our bilateral discussions with Mauritius.

Henderson Island

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the rat infestation on Henderson Island.

Mark Simmonds: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 22 April 2013. Official Report, column 635W.
	The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has been closely monitoring the situation on Henderson Island following the unsuccessful 2011 eradication attempt. A further research trip, funded by the Darwin Initiative, is planned for July and August. The near-removal of rats from the island has allowed many of Henderson's birds to significantly increase their populations and the RSPB are in discussion with the Territory on next steps for Pitcairn and Henderson. The UK Government will continue working with the Territory and partner organisations to protect the environment and biodiversity of these internationally important islands.

India

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent steps he has taken to raise the case of Devinderpal Singh Bhullar with his counterparts in the Indian Government and to press for his death sentence to be commuted to a life sentence.

Hugo Swire: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 13 May 2013, Official Report, column 34W.

India

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his counterparts in the Indian Government regarding concerns raised by Amnesty International, Reprieve UK, Human Rights Watch and other organisations regarding the treatment of Devinderpal Singh Bhullar.

Hugo Swire: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 13 May 2013, Official Report, column 34W.
	The UK will continue to monitor this case closely, as we will in all cases where the death penalty has been given as a sentence. I note that there are concerns about the treatment of Mr Bhullar during his imprisonment. We will continue to call on the Indian Government to expedite the ratification of the United Nations convention against torture and its optional protocol, and adopt robust domestic legislation to that, effect. The British Government made a specific recommendation on that issue during India's universal periodic review in May last year.

Kenya

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of the total £19.9 million Mau Mau settlement will go to law firms representing Kenyans.

Mark Simmonds: £6 million of the total settlement was paid to Leigh Day in respect of their legal costs.

Montserrat

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the potential threat from the Soufriere Hills Volcano in Montserrat.

Mark Simmonds: The Soufriere Hills volcano remains one of the most closely monitored volcanoes in the world. The Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO) monitors it round the clock and its scientists produce weekly activity reports. These are available on the MVO website:
	www.mvo.ms
	In addition, further analysis and advice is provided by the Montserrat Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) which reviews scientific data with the MVO to aid future forecasting on possible activity. The SAC reports annually to the Governor and its reports are also available on the MVO website. The volcano remains active but has been in a state of pause since the last major eruption in February 2010. In November 2011 the hazard level was reduced, allowing daytime access to certain parts of the former exclusion zone. Hazard levels and access remain under constant review. All of these measures have substantially reduced the risk to Montserrat's population.

Palestinians

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has received regarding access for tourists to the west bank.

Alistair Burt: We have not received any representations regarding access for tourists to the west bank. However the Government continues to assess that Israeli restrictions on movement and access in the west bank and Gaza are the single biggest obstacle to trade and economic development.
	We continue to lobby the Israeli Government to ease restrictions on movement and access.

Palestinians

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will raise with his counterpart in the Israeli government the importance of allowing tourism to Palestinian-controlled areas as a valuable source for economic growth in the area.

Alistair Burt: We remain deeply concerned about restrictions on freedom of movement between the west bank and East Jerusalem, and elsewhere in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Through our embassy in Tel Aviv, we have lobbied the appropriate authorities on the issue of movement and access. We continue to work closely with the Quartet and EU partners, and to call on Israel to ease restrictions on access. However, the Government continues to assess that Israeli restrictions on movement and access in Palestinian-controlled areas are the single biggest obstacle to trade and economic development.

Rockall

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his policy is on the sovereignty of Rockall Island.

David Lidington: Sovereignty over Rockall lies with the United Kingdom. It was annexed in 1955 and no other state disputes our sovereignty.

South Sudan

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received of the presence of anti-personnel mines in Jonglei State, South Sudan, in breach of the Mine Ban Treaty; and what representations he has made to the government of South Sudan on that matter.

Mark Simmonds: We have received unconfirmed reports of the use of anti-personnel mines in Jonglei State, and are liaising with the UN and others. Access in parts of Jonglei State remains difficult and hazardous but the UN Mission in South Sudan continues to monitor activity wherever possible. The British Government stresses the importance for all countries party to the Mine Ban Treaty to fulfil their obligations under the treaty, and if evidence confirming the use of mines is received, we will make strong representations to the Government of South Sudan.

Sudan

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Sudanese counterpart during his recent visit to London; and what representations he has made to the Sudanese government on the humanitarian situation in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

Mark Simmonds: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), and I met the Sudanese Minister for Foreign Affairs in London on 7 May. At this meeting, the Secretary of State welcomed the recent progress in relations with South Sudan, and the start of talks between Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North and the Government of Sudan but also pressed for more progress in those talks, and the urgent need for humanitarian access to those in need in all conflict areas. We raise these points with the Government of Sudan at every available opportunity, including through officials at our embassy in Khartoum.

Sudan

Stephen Mosley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with Baroness Amos following her visit to Sudan.

Mark Simmonds: During her visit, Baroness Amos met officials from the Department for International Development to present her initial findings from the visit. It is welcome that she was able to visit refugee camps in Darfur, and that she pressed the Government of Sudan to allow unhindered access for humanitarian agencies across Sudan but in particular in conflict affected areas including Southern Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur. Officials from the embassy in Khartoum also met the Head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Khartoum afterwards for a de-briefing on the visit. Baroness Amos plans to brief the UN Security Council on her visit on 20 June.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Bangladesh

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions she has had with the Health and Safety Executive about improving health and safety for workers in Bangladesh.

Alan Duncan: DFID has been exploring, through the Investment Facility for Utilising UK Specialist Expertise (IFUSE), suitable sources of expertise to provide help in improving health and safety in Bangladesh. The Health and Safety Executive is one of the organisations included in this discussion.

Business: Forced Labour

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps her Department is taking to eradicate slavery in business supply chains.

Justine Greening: DFID is taking steps to help businesses tackle slavery in supply chains that involve developing countries, through:
	(a) initiatives focused on the trafficking of women and girls and child labour, including a regional programme in South Asia;
	(b) by supporting tripartite and global mechanisms, such as the Ethical Trading Initiative, UK National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and UN Global Compact; and
	(c) by helping to address the underlying factors that put people at risk of becoming victims of forced labour.
	The Government will shortly be launching an action plan which will help UK companies understand and manage human rights risks such as trafficking and forced labour.

Capita

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much her Department currently spends on contracts with Capita; and how much was spent in each year since 2008.

Justine Greening: The following table gives details of DFID spend on contracts with Capita since 2008. Current year spend is £2,632.
	
		
			  Spend (£) 
			 2008 999 
			 2009 16,346 
			 2010 1,522,688 
			 2011 3,418 
			 2012 63,328

Legal Costs

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  what the 20 highest amounts paid for external legal advice by her Department were in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012; to whom such sums were paid; and for what reasons the legal advice was sought;
	(2)  how much her Department spent on external legal advice from Queen's Counsel (a) between 7 May 2010 and 4 September 2012 and (b) since 4 September 2012;
	(3)  how much her Department spent on external legal advice (a) between 7 May 2010 and 4 September 2012 and (b) since 4 September 2012.

Alan Duncan: For the period questioned the central finance records of the DFID show the following:
	
		
			 £ 
			  External legal advice(1) 
			  Between 7 May 2010 and 4 September 2012 Since 4 September 2012 to 31 May 2013 
			 Legal fees paid 1,808,704.16 278,089.49 
			 (1) Note on figures produced. These figures relate to total legal costs paid to external parties, this includes both costs paid to obtain legal advice and costs paid to obtain legal representation services. It is not possible to split this down to only costs paid for obtaining legal advice without incurring disproportionate cost. In determining external legal advice we have excluded Treasury's Solicitors own charges to Departments as these would fall within the Government Legal Service. Our response therefore reflects costs paid to private sector legal representatives. 
		
	
	DFID's central finance records identify total legal costs, including amounts paid to external parties to obtain legal advice and representation services. It is not possible to split this down into the categories requested, without examining individual files which would incur disproportionate cost.

Palestinians

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  what recent assessment her Department has made of the risks and benefits of funding projects in Area C of the Occupied Palestinian Territory;
	(2)  what recent discussions her Department has had on funding of development infrastructure in those parts of Area C of the Occupied Palestinian Territory covered by Palestinian master plans with (a) other Government Departments, (b) international development ministers of other EU member states and (c) the European Commission.

Alan Duncan: DFID is in frequent dialogue with both other Government Departments, other donors, and the European Commission regarding funding of development infrastructure in those parts of Area C of the Occupied Palestinian Territories covered by Palestinian master plans. The topic has also been discussed in international fora such as the EU Foreign Affairs Council and the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee.
	DFID is currently considering the costs and benefits of additional assistance for vulnerable communities in Area C.

South Sudan

Stephen Mosley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of the current situation in the Yida and Ajuong refugee camps in South Sudan.

Lynne Featherstone: UK officials visited both the Yida settlement and the new Adjoung Thok camp in April 2013 to see conditions of these camps first hand. Conditions in Yida camp are difficult, but we judge that the refugees living there are receiving adequate support. Ajoung Camp is better equipped to provide the longer-term support for refugees, and we support the decision of the Government of South Sudan and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)to encourage relocation away from Yida and to open the new camp at Adjoung Thok, which UNHCR see as a safer location given its increased distance, particularly by road, from the insecure border region. We support UNHCR's focus on the provision of life-saving assistance and protection at Yida, but welcome the fact that the full package of refugee services will be available at Adjoung Thok.

South Sudan

Stephen Mosley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what reports she has received on the supply of food in Yida refugee camp in South Sudan.

Lynne Featherstone: We are working closely with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the Yida refugee camp, who lead on the delivery of humanitarian aid. We judge that the UNHCR operation is capable of dealing with the high caseload of over 71,000 refugees, and ensuring proper supply of food, and understand the Word Food Programme has put in place effective preparations for food supplies in Yida refugee camp.

Syria

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding allocated to young disabled refugees from Syria in (a) Lebanon, (b) Jordan, (c) Iraq and (d) Turkey.

Justine Greening: We recognise that the impact of the conflict is felt most by those who are most vulnerable, including young and disabled refugees. The UN-led Regional Response Plan, announced on 7 June, will include an assessment of regional needs. We are working with humanitarian agencies to respond to the most affected Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries.

Syria

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of the work conducted by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in supporting (a) Palestinian refugees who have not been displaced as a result of the conflict in Syria and (b) newly-displaced Palestinian refugees from Syria.

Justine Greening: Overall United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) continue to deliver high quality basic services to a growing refugee population.
	(a) A May 2013 annual review of our support to the UNRWA indicated that UNRWA is on track to deliver key results.
	(b) Funding for the Syria appeal remains critically low, but UNRWA has provided cash assistance to more than 215,000 refugees in 2013, as well as supplying food and relief packages, and maintaining regular education, health and social services. The UK is providing £5 million to UNRWA which will allow them to support 350,000 newly displaced Palestinian refugees from Syria.

JUSTICE

Criminal Defence Service

Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to ensure the bi-lingual provision of criminal defence services in Wales.

Jeremy Wright: The Ministry of Justice aims to treat the English and Welsh languages on a basis of equality so far as is possible and any criminal legal aid contract holder would be required to meet the obligations of the Welsh Language Act.

Employment and Support Allowance: Appeals

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average length of time was for the Tribunals Service to administer a First-tier Tribunal-Social security and Child Support appeal in respect of employment and support allowance in Coventry in (a) each quarter in 2012 and (b) the latest period for which figures are available.

Helen Grant: Appeals against decisions made by the Department for Work and Pensions on an individual's entitlement to social security and child support are heard by the First-tier Tribunal—Social Security and Child Support (SSCS), administered by HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS).
	The following table shows the average time taken from receipt of an appeal to disposal by the tribunal in respect of employment and support allowance (ESA) in the Coventry hearing venues for each quarter from January to December 2012 (the latest period for which figures are available).
	
		
			 Appeal times (in weeks) from receipt to disposal in Coventry, 2012 
			  January to March April to June July to September October to December 
			 Employment and support allowance 46.8 37.8 34.3 39.7 
			 Source: The data are taken from management information 
		
	
	The appeal waiting time in weeks in Coventry for all appeal types is 33.9 weeks.
	The increase in average waiting times for the period October to December 2012 reflects the fact that the number of appeals received in Coventry rose significantly in April to June 2012, as set out in the following table:
	
		
			 Appeal receipts in Coventry, 2012 
			  January to March April to June July to September October to December 
			 Employment and support allowance 386 794 641 440 
		
	
	From November 2012 some appeals which would previously have been heard at Coventry have been heard at alternative venues in Leamington Spa and Nuneaton, allowing additional sessions to be held. However, it has proved difficult to maintain a high level of additional sessions as fewer appellants than expected have been willing to travel to these venues for their hearings. Despite this appellants from Coventry are routinely offered the alternative of having their hearings at these venues where earlier hearing dates can be given.
	From 10 June, there will be four hearing rooms in use on a daily basis at Coventry magistrates court, increasing capacity to allow an additional 20 judicial sessions a week to be heard at this venue. This will reduce the number of appeals waiting to be heard at Coventry and will reduce the average waiting time for an appeal hearing.
	The effect of these latest measures on waiting times will not be immediate, especially as the oldest cases, which can take longer to hear, are being targeted first. Older cases are more likely to be complex cases which may have had more than one hearing, for example a first hearing may have been adjourned for further evidence to be gathered. Complex cases also often need a longer time slot, reducing the number of cases that can be heard per session. The oldest cases are routinely referred to District Tribunal Judges to enable them to make any appropriate directions which will help progress these cases to hearing. The impact these measures have on waiting times continues to be monitored closely.
	The number of appeals received by the SSCS Tribunal nationally has risen significantly, from 229,100 in 2007-08 to 453,719 between January and December 2012 (the latest period for which information has been published). In addition to local initiatives, HMCTS continues to respond strongly at a national level to continue to increase the capacity of the SSCS Tribunal and reduce waiting times. Measures in place include ongoing recruitment of additional judges and medically qualified members and the review and continuous improvement of administrative processes both internally and between HMCTS and DWP.
	All of this is having a positive effect. The total number of disposals has increased significantly from 279,000 in 2009-10 to 380,000 in 2010-11, and 433,600 appeals in 2011-12 and the average waiting time has fallen nationally from 22.9 weeks in 2011-12 to 17.4 weeks in April to December 2012.

Homicide: Sentencing

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will give consideration to implementing a murder offence of terrorism aggravated murder with the punishment of a mandatory whole life sentence without parole.

Jeremy Wright: Schedule 21 to the Criminal Justice Act 2003 provides guidance to the courts on determining the minimum term for a life sentence for murder. The starting point for a murder committed for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause is a whole life tariff.

Prisoner Escorts

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many court cases were delayed because defendants were absent as a result of the failure of GEOAmey to transport prisoners to court in 2012.

Jeremy Wright: Providing the requested information would involve analysis of data for both court adjournments and prisoner transfer records. This could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

Prisoner Escorts

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what value of fines have been paid under each privately-operated prisoner escort contract in each of the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what fines can be levied against each privately-operated prisoner escort contract for (a) late delivery to court of offenders and (b) late delivery of offenders at prison establishments; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright: The Ministry of Justice are unable to disclose the value of Liquidated Damages paid by each contractor during the past 12 months. This information is classed as commercially sensitive, and has not previously been published. Contracted Delivery Indicators are part of the Pricing Mechanisms which were redacted when Contracts were uploaded onto Contracts Finder.
	1. The contractual remedy for late delivery to court of offenders is by Service Improvement Plans and Service Improvement Notices. The application of Liquidated Damages (fines) is not a contractual option for this Contract Delivery Indicator.
	2. Liquidated Damages (fines) can be applied for the late delivery of prisoners to establishments. They are made on the following basis: £150 per hour pro-rata for each 15 minute period prisoners are delivered later than 30 minutes prior to the latest prison reception closing time. This is a cost per van.
	£50 per night per prisoner for prisoners that are locked out of prison and lodged overnight in police cells.

Prisoner Escorts

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on how many occasions each prison reception in the UK has had to remain open due to the late arrival of offenders from courts in each of the last 12 months.

Jeremy Wright: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) does not record this information centrally. To collate this information would require the examination of daily logs from individual establishments and this would incur disproportionate costs.

Prisoners’ Transfers

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many contracts his Department holds for the transfer of prisoners between prisons in England and Wales; which organisations hold each such contract; what the value is of such contracts; and when each contract will next be renewed.

Jeremy Wright: A question (154940) was previously asked by the hon. Member on the value of contracts held for transporting prisoners between prisons. The response is provided at the following Hansard link:
	http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm130521/text/130521w0004.htm#1305224002334

Prisons: Electronic Equipment

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much was spent on (a) televisions, (b) games consoles, (c) subscription television channels and (d) DVD players in privately-run prisons in the financial years (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12 and (iii) 2012-13.

Jeremy Wright: The National Offender Management Service does not hold expenditure details on televisions, games consoles or DVD players used in privately run prisons. Invoices from contractors, in respect of the services provided, are based upon contract pricing contained within the appropriate Payment Mechanism Schedule for each individual contract.
	Subscription television channels are currently available in some contracted out prisons but not in public sector prisons. The changes we are introducing to the IEP scheme mean that access to subscription television channels is being removed from contracted out prisons.

Probation

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to the answer of 25 March 2013, Official Report, columns 952-4W, on probation, what the title is of each accredited programme; and who the programme providers are.

Jeremy Wright: The following table provides the titles of probation accredited programmes and the probation trust providers for each programme.
	Interventions are commissioned on a local basis in order to meet the needs of the offender population and are therefore subject to change.
	The information provided has been drawn from an administrative data system, and although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.
	
		
			 Programme category and title Main provider (probation trust) 
			 Alcohol—COVAID Accredited Greater Manchester Probation Trust 
			  Hampshire Probation Trust 
			  Leicestershire and Rutland Probation Trust 
			  Nottinghamshire Probation Trust 
			  West Yorkshire Probation Trust 
			   
			 Alcohol—DID (Drink Impaired Drivers) Accredited Avon and Somerset Probation Trust 
			  Essex Probation Trust 
			  Greater Manchester Probation Trust 
			  Hampshire Probation Trust 
			  Hertfordshire Probation Trust 
			  Kent Probation Trust 
			  Lancashire Probation Trust 
			  Leicestershire and Rutland Probation Trust 
			  Lincolnshire Probation Trust 
			  Merseyside Probation Trust 
			  Northamptonshire Probation Trust 
			  Northumbria Probation Trust 
			  South Yorkshire Probation Trust 
			  Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation Trust 
			  Wales Probation Trust 
			  Warwickshire Probation Trust 
			  West Mercia Probation Trust 
			  West Yorkshire Probation Trust 
			  Wiltshire Probation Trust 
			  York and North Yorkshire Probation Trust 
			   
			 Alcohol—LIAP (Low Intensity Alcohol Programme) Accredited Avon and Somerset Probation Trust 
			  Derbyshire Probation Trust 
			  Devon and Cornwall Probation Trust 
			  Dorset Probation Trust 
			  Lincolnshire Probation Trust 
			  Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation Trust 
		
	
	
		
			  Warwickshire Probation Trust 
			   
			 Anger—CALM Accredited Derbyshire Probation Trust 
			  Durham Tees Valley Probation Trust 
			  Greater Manchester Probation Trust 
			  Humberside Probation Trust 
			  Lancashire Probation Trust 
			  Lincolnshire Probation Trust 
			  Merseyside Probation Trust 
			  Northamptonshire Probation Trust 
			  Nottinghamshire Probation Trust 
			   
			 Drug and Alcohol—ASRO (Addressing Substance Related Offending) Accredited Avon and Somerset Probation Trust 
			   
			 Drug and Alcohol—Building Skills for Recovery (BSR)—Accredited Dorset Probation Trust 
			  Essex Probation trust 
			  Gloucestershire Probation Trust 
			  Greater Manchester Probation Trust 
			  Merseyside Probation Trust 
			  Northumbria Probation Trust 
			  Wales Probation Trust 
			  West Yorkshire Probation Trust 
			   
			 Drug and Alcohol—OSAP (Offender Substance Abuse Programme Accredited Hertfordshire Probation Trust 
			  Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation Trust 
			  Warwickshire Probation Trust 
			   
			 General Offending—Priestley 1:1 (One to One) programme Accredited Essex Probation Trust 
			  Hertfordshire Probation Trust 
			  Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation Trust 
			  Warwickshire Probation Trust 
			   
			 General Offending—TSP Accredited Avon and Somerset Probation Trust 
			  Bedfordshire Probation Trust 
			  Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Probation Trust 
			  Cheshire Probation Trust 
			  Cumbria Probation Trust 
			  Derbyshire Probation Trust 
			  Devon and Cornwall Probation Trust 
			  Dorset Probation Trust 
			  Durham Tees Valley Probation Trust 
			  Essex Probation Trust 
			  Gloucestershire Probation Trust 
			  Greater Manchester Probation Trust 
			  Hampshire Probation Trust 
			  Hertfordshire Probation Trust 
			  Humberside Probation Trust 
			  Kent Probation Trust 
			  Lancashire Probation Trust 
		
	
	
		
			  Leicestershire and Rutland Probation Trust 
			  Lincolnshire Probation Trust 
			  London Probation Trust 
			  Merseyside Probation Trust 
			  Norfolk and Suffolk Probation Trust 
			  Northamptonshire Probation Trust 
			  Northumbria Probation Trust 
			  Nottinghamshire Probation Trust 
			  South Yorkshire Probation Trust 
			  Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation Trust 
			  Wales Probation Trust 
			  West Mercia Probation Trust 
			  West Yorkshire Probation Trust 
			  Wiltshire Probation Trust 
			   
			 Sexual Offending—N-SOGP Accredited Cheshire Probation Trust 
			  Cumbria Probation Trust 
			  Durham Tees Valley Probation Trust 
			  Greater Manchester Probation Trust 
			  Humberside Probation Trust 
			  Lancashire Probation Trust 
			  Merseyside Probation Trust 
			  Northumbria Probation Trust 
			  South Yorkshire Probation Trust 
			  West Yorkshire Probation Trust 
			  York and North Yorkshire Probation Trust 
			   
			 Sexual Offending—TVSOGP Accredited Avon and Somerset Probation Trust 
			  Bedfordshire Probation Trust 
			  Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Probation Trust 
			  Devon and Cornwall Probation Trust 
			  Dorset Probation Trust 
			  Essex Probation Trust 
			  Gloucestershire Probation Trust 
			  Hampshire Probation Trust 
			  Hertfordshire Probation Trust 
			  Kent Probation Trust 
			  Norfolk and Suffolk Probation Trust 
			  Surrey and Sussex Probation Trust 
			  Thames Valley Probation Trust 
			  Wiltshire Probation Trust 
			   
			 Violence—ART Accredited Avon and Somerset Probation Trust 
			  Bedfordshire Probation Trust 
			  Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Probation Trust 
			  Essex Probation Trust 
			  Hertfordshire Probation Trust 
			  Kent Probation Trust 
			  London Probation Trust 
			  Norfolk and Suffolk Probation Trust 
		
	
	
		
			  Wiltshire Probation Trust 
			   
			 Violence—RESOLVE Accredited Gloucestershire Probation Trust 
			  Hampshire Probation Trust 
			  Northumbria Probation Trust 
			  Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation Trust 
			  Wales Probation Trust 
			   
			 Women's Programme Accredited Greater Manchester Probation Trust

Public Sector: Information

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he has plans to bring forward legislative proposals to amend current legislation relating to Public Sector Information Re-use and the Environmental Information regulations.

Helen Grant: The Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005 implement Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the re-use of public sector information. In December 2011 the European Commission proposed a directive to amend 2003/98/EC. This amending directive has now reached the final stages of negotiations in Europe and is likely to be adopted by the end of June 2013. The directive then allows two years from the date of adoption for member states to transpose it into domestic legislation.
	The Government has no current plans to amend the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

Roads: Accidents

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will bring forward proposals for the treatment of bereaved and injured people as a result of road accidents as victims of crime until the contrary is proven.

Helen Grant: It is right that victims of crime get the support they need. The Code of Practice for Victims of Crime (Victims' Code) requires that any person alleging they are a victim of criminal conduct that falls under the National Crime Recording Standard, or who has had an allegation made on their behalf, is entitled to services under the Code. Where a person has died as a result of criminal conduct, or is unable to receive services as a result of a disability, the victim's family spokesperson is entitled to receive services under the Code. The Government recently consulted on a review of the Victims’ Code. The consultation ran from 29 March until 10 May. We are analysing the responses and intend to publish the Government's response this summer.
	In addition, for the three financial years from 1 April 2011, the Ministry of Justice allocated a total of approximately £820,000 funding for services for victims of road crime. These expert services were delivered to victims through organisations such as Brake, the Road Victims Trust, Aftermath Support and RoadPeace.

Telephone Services

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether his Department receives any financial or non-financial benefit from its telephone providers for telephone lines that (a) his Department and (b) the agencies for which he is responsible operate, including but not limited to (i) a share of call revenue, (ii) a reduction in the Department's telephone bill or tariff and (iii) telephony services for free or at a reduced price.

Helen Grant: The Ministry of Justice does not receive any financial or non-financial benefit from its telephone providers for telephone lines that (a) the Department and (b) its agencies operate including (i) any share of call revenue (ii) any reduction in the Department's telephone bill or tariff and (iii) any telephony services for free or at a reduced price.

Vetting: Construction

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he has taken to ensure that the Information Commissioner's Office is proactively informing individuals who are on the blacklist of construction workers compiled by the Consulting Association.

Helen Grant: The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is the independent regulatory body responsible for enforcing the Data Protection Act 1998 in the UK.
	Any individual can check whether they may have been on the Consulting Association blacklist by contacting the ICO's fast track service helpline on 0303 123 1113 between 9 am and 5 pm, Monday to Friday. To date 3,652 individuals have contacted the helpline, and copies of personal data held in the files have been provided to 385 individuals.
	The ICO has also responded positively to calls upon them to proactively contact people who may not otherwise have been made aware of the issue. For instance, it has worked with a credit reference agency in order to reach such individuals. The ICO is pursuing a matching exercise involving national insurance numbers which they hope will enable them to contact more individuals. The ICO has also provided some information under confidentiality agreements to trade unions who have carried out their own matching exercises. As a result of this individuals are either contacting the ICO directly or the ICO is providing information to them via legal representatives of the union.

Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he expects to bring into force section 28 of the Youth and Crime Act 1999.

Helen Grant: The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, my right hon. Friend the Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling), today announced the Government's plan to pilot section 28 by the end of the year in three Crown court locations—Liverpool, Leeds and Kingston-upon-Thames. The pilots will run for six months followed by an assessment period with the intention of rolling the measure out more widely if it proves a success.

CABINET OFFICE

Charities

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many charity trustees have been removed by the Charity Commission for unacceptable behaviour in each year since 2010.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Charity Commission. I have asked the Commission's chief executive to reply.
	Letter from Sam Younger, dated 10 June 2013
	I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question on the number of charity trustees removed by the Charity Commission for unacceptable behaviour in each year since 2010.
	First, may I start by explaining under the current law that any one can become a trustee of a charity, unless they are disqualified by law from acting under an individual's charity governing document or under the Charities Act 2011. Sections 178 - 180 of the Charities Act 2011 prescribe that the following people will commit a criminal offence if they act and they fall into one of a number categories including:
	anyone who has an unspent conviction for an offence involving deception or dishonesty
	anyone who is an undischarged bankrupt
	anyone who has been removed from trusteeship of a charity by the Court or the Commission for misconduct or mismanagement
	anyone under a disqualification order under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986
	anyone who has entered into a composition or arrangement with their creditors which includes an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA), and is currently on the Insolvency Service Register.
	We carry out various checks on individuals to identify where this may be the case.
	Aside from this, the Commission has a limited power to remove an individual from their office of trusteeship: this power can only be exercised after a statutory inquiry has been opened and where there is sufficient evidence that a) there has been misconduct or mismanagement in the administration of the charily b) it is desirable to act to protect the property of the charity or secure its proper application and c) the individual in question has been responsible for, privy to, has contributed to or facilitated the misconduct or mismanagement. In addition, we have to be satisfied, in accordance with our statutory duty to have regard to the principles of best regulatory practice, that it is proportionate and targeted only at a case in which action is needed. Under the legislation, before we can exercise the power, we must issue a notice of intention to remove giving the individual concerned at least one month's prior notice of the removal when they can make representations.
	Since 2010, we have not gone past the notice stage to exercise that particular power. We have exercised the power to suspend an individual (which can be a precursor to removal) where there is evidence of misconduct or mismanagement or risk to property the following times:
	2009/10—1;
	2010/11—1;
	2011/12—1;
	Sometimes we cannot proceed to use our powers for a number of reasons; including as in one recent case where we issued a notice of intention to remove but before we could remove them the individual was convicted with an offence in connection with the mismanagement in the charity that disqualified them anyway. It may also no longer be necessary because the individual resigns their position during our regulatory engagement with them.
	Our website:
	http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/about-charities/register-of-removed-trustees/
	hosts the Register of Removed Trustees that enables others to search for the name of a person against the Register. The Register of Removed Trustees provides details of anyone who has been removed as a trustee by the High Court or the Commission. There are currently 105 people who were removed by the court or the Commission (England and Wales). For each disqualified person, we hold their name, address at the time of removal, the date when the order was made and the name of the charity concerned.

Charities

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many enforcement visits have been carried out by the Charity Commission in each year since 2010.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Charity Commission. I have asked the Commission's chief executive to reply.
	Letter from Sam Younger, dated 10 June 2013
	I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question on the number of enforcement visits that have been carried out by the Charity Commission in each year since 2010.
	In the context of our normal casework and investigations the Commission conducts various forms of visits and meetings with charities and trustees, either visiting premises or asking them to attend our offices to deal with various non compliance issues. These can include carrying out financial books and records inspections. In the past year this has taken place on over 90 occasions.
	In addition, we conduct more ‘compliance visits’ as part of targeted, proactive monitoring work. Until December 2011 this was carried out by the Monitoring Unit in the Compliance Division. After the Strategic Review, following budget cuts of a third in real terms between 2009/10 and 2014/15, this work has continued in the Investigations and Enforcement Team. The following refers to the number of ‘compliance visits’ the respective teams have carried out in the last 3 years:
	2009/10—14 visits
	2010/11—20 visits
	2011/12—21 visits
	2012/13—25 visits
	2013/14—11 visits since April 1

Charities

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what checks take place when an organisation applies to register as a charity to ensure that there is a clear public benefit from the activities of that organisation.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Charity Commission. I have asked the Commission's chief executive to reply.
	Letter from Sam Younger, dated 10 June 2013
	I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question on the checks that take place when an organisation applies to register as a charity to ensure that there is a clear public benefit from the activities of that organisation.
	It is a matter of law whether an organisation is a charity. An organisation must have exclusively charitable purposes for the public benefit in order to be registered.
	In assessing an application to become a charity we consider:
	Whether the purposes stated in the governing document fall within the descriptions of purposes set out in the Charities Act 2011
	Whether the information provided by the applicant demonstrates that those purposes are for the public benefit
	It is not to be presumed that a purpose of a particular description is for the public benefit (section 4 (2) of the 2011 Act).
	In making our assessment we refer to:
	‘Charities and Public Benefit’ and the linked series of public benefit publications
	Our published guidance in the RR and CC series
	The Decisions of the Commission and relevant case law
	Where the expressed purposes of the organisation are not clear or if it is not clear how it will further that purpose for the public benefit we will also consider any relevant actual or proposed activities. In some cases we also liaise with other agencies or Government departments. If we have concerns relating to possible private benefit we request further details.
	Determining charitable status of an organisation is in most cases straightforward, but in a minority of cases it may be a complex decision.
	If we are unable to determine that the applicant organisation is established for exclusively charitable purposes for the public benefit we may reject the application. Last year, 36 organisations' applications were rejected. An organisation which is refused may appeal to the Charity Tribunal. It may also invoke our internal Decision Review procedures.

Conditions of Employment

Stephen Timms: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office pursuant to his answer of 3 June 2013, Official Report, columns 957-8W, on conditions of employment, how many people were employed on zero hours contracts in each three month period in the last five years.

Nick Hurd: holding answer 10 June 2013
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated June 2013
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question, asking, pursuant to the Answer of 3 June 2013, Official Report, columns 957-8W, on conditions of employment, how many people were employed on zero hours contracts in each three month period in the last five years. 158940
	Information regarding people working on zero-hours contracts is available from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Full estimates of the total number of people in employment on such contracts are only available for the October to December quarter each year. The information is not collected in either the January to March or the July to September periods. It is collected in the April to June period but not from all eligible respondents. Consequently figures for April to June would be underestimates that would not be consistent with those for the October to December period each year.
	The table provides estimates for the October to December period in each of the last five years.
	As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty. An indication of the quality of the estimates provided is given in the table. In addition, there is likely to be a degree of reporting error in these estimates as respondents may fail to identify their type of employment contract correctly.
	
		
			 People in employment on zero-hours contracts(1) October to December, 2008-12, not seasonally adjusted, UK 
			  All persons 
			  Total (thousand) As a proportion of total employment (percentage) 
			 2008 116 0.4 
			 2009 151 0.5 
			 2010 130 0.4 
			 2011 152 0.5 
			 2012 **200 0.7 
			 (1) A zero-hours contract is defined as a contract of employment which does not specify a fixed number of hours per week and has no guaranteed minimum number of hours. Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5% we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220. Key: * 0 = CV<5%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered precise ** 5 = CV <10%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered reasonably precise *** 10 = CV <20%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered acceptable **** CV = 20%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes CV = Coefficient of Variation Source: Annual Population Survey and Annual Labour Force Survey

Crimes against the Person

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many crimes against the person per 1,000 adults there were in each of the last 30 years.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated June 2013
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking for the number of crimes against the person per 1,000 adults there were in each of the last 30 years. (159015)
	The following table provides the incident rates per 1,000 adults/households for all personal/household crimes in England and Wales, as measured by the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) in each year for which data are available since the survey first ran in 1981.
	The CSEW is a face-to-face victimisation survey in which people resident in households in England and Wales are asked about their experiences of a range of crimes in the 12 months prior to their interview. The survey asks people about offences that have been specifically committed against them, for example: 'theft from the person', and offences that have been targeted at their household, for example: 'burglary'.
	Crime incidence rates up to 2011/12 were published by ONS as part of the 'Crime Statistics, period ending March 2012' release, available here:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/crime-stats/crime-statistics/period-ending-march-2012/index.html
	Data for 2012/13 are due to be published as part of the 'Crime Statistics, period ending March 2013' release on 18 July 2013.
	Crime statistics for Scotland and Northern Ireland are collected and published separately, and can be downloaded from:
	Scotland:
	http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice
	Northern Ireland:
	http://www.dojni.gov.uk/index/statistics-research/stats-research-publications/northern-ireland-crime-survey-s-r/r--s-bulletin-1-2013-experience-of-crime-findings-from-the-2011-12-northern-ireland-crime-survey.htm
	
		
			 Table 1: Trends in CSEW incidence rates for personal and household crime from 1981 to 2011/12, England and Wales. Adults aged 16 and over 
			 Rates per 1,000 adults/households 
			 Period All personal crime(2) All household crime(3) 
			 1981 106 379 
			 1983 108 412 
			 1987 108 462 
			 1991 117 512 
			 1993 148 601 
			 1995 170 586 
			 1997 150 490 
			 1999 135 430 
			 2001/02(1) 113 359 
			 2002/03 113 343 
			 2003/04 107 322 
			 2004/05 95 298 
			 2005/06 96 294 
			 2006/07 96 304 
			 2007/08 86 273 
			 2008/09 89 283 
			 2009/10 82 252 
			 2010/11 84 250 
			 2011/12 83 243 
			 (1) Prior to 2001/02, CSEW estimates relate to crimes experienced in a given calendar year. From 2001/02 onwards the estimates relate to crimes experienced In the last 12 months based on interviews in the given financial year. (2) 'All personal crime' includes: 'Theft from the person'; 'Other theft of personal property'; 'All violence'. (3) 'All household crime' includes; 'Vandalism'; 'Burglary'; 'Vehicle-related theft': 'Bicycle theft'; 'Other household theft'. Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics

Cybercrime

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps he is taking to improve cyber-security within the critical national infrastructure supply chain; and if he will make a statement.

Chloe Smith: In the National Cyber Security Strategy we committed to achieving:
	"bolstered defences in our critical national infrastructure (CNI) against cyber attack."
	Through our investment in CPNI (Centre for Protection for National Infrastructure) and GCHQ as well as lead Government Departments, we are supporting critical national infrastructure companies to identify and address the cyber threats they face, including by improving the cyber security of their supply chains.

Health

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what information his Department collects on the average rating of satisfaction with (a) social and (b) family life in each year for which figures are available.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated June 2013
	As the Director General of the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office what information the Department holds on the average rating of satisfaction with (a) social and (b) family life in each year for which figures are available (158974). Please see the tables.
	For Satisfaction with social life, we obtained UK data for 2003, 2007 and 2011 and EU comparison data for 2011. For Satisfaction with family life, we obtained data for 2003, 2007 and 2011. The data were accessed from the Eurofound survey and can be found at:
	http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/
	http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/areas/qualityoflife/eurlife/index.php?template=3&radioindic=61&idDomain=5
	The information you are requesting has been used by the Office for National Statistics as part of our Measuring National Well-being Programme.
	The Programme was launched in November 2010 and the aim of the programme is to develop and publish an accepted and trusted set of National Statistics that helps people to understand and monitor national well-being. More details of the programme can be found at:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/user-guidance/well-being/index.html
	
		
			 Average rating of satisfaction with social life 
			 Average rating out of 10 
			 Countries 2011 
			 Austria 8.1 
			 Belgium 7.5 
			 Bulgaria 5.9 
			 Croatia 6.9 
			 Cyprus 8.1 
			 Czech Republic 6.8 
			 Germany 7.5 
			 Denmark 8.3 
			 Estonia 6.9 
			 Finland 7.8 
			 France 7.4 
			 Greece 7.1 
			 Hungary 6.8 
			 Ireland 7.1 
			 Italy 7.3 
			 Lithuania 6.7 
			 Luxembourg 7.8 
			 Latvia 6.5 
			 Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 6.8 
			 Malta 7.4 
			 Netherlands 7.5 
			 Poland 6.6 
			 Portugal 7.2 
			 Romania 7.4 
			 Spain 7.6 
			 Slovenia 7.2 
			 Slovakia 6.8 
			 Sweden 7.7 
			 Turkey 6.2 
			 UK 7.0 
			 Note: Respondents were asked: please tell me how satisfied you are with your social life, using a scale from 1 to 10 where (1) means you are 'very dissatisfied' and (10) means you are 'very satisfied'? 
		
	
	
		
			 Satisfaction with social life 
			  2003(1) 2007(2) 2011(3) 
			 Percentage 56.8 65.9 65.7 
			 Score out of 10 7 8 7 
		
	
	
		
			 Sample 1,012 3,671 2,252 
			 (1) Great Britain coverage only. (2) United Kingdom coverage without sampling in Scottish Highland and Islands or Isles of Scilly. (3) United Kingdom coverage Source: Eurofound, European quality of life survey 
		
	
	
		
			 Average rating of satisfaction with family life 
			 Average rating out of 10 
			 Countries 2003 2006 2007 2011 
			 Austria 8.2 — 7.5 8.4 
			 Belgium 7.9 — 8.1 7.8 
			 Bulgaria 7.1 — 6.5 6.7 
			 Croatia — 7.5 7.6 7.9 
			 Cyprus 7.9 — 8.5 8.9 
			 Czech Republic 7.5 — 8.0 7.2 
			 Denmark 8.7 — 8.8 8.4 
			 Estonia 7.1 — 7.7 7.3 
			 Finland 8.2 — 8.5 8.4 
			 France 7.4 — 8.2 7.8 
			 Germany 8.1 — 8.0 7.7 
			 Greece 8.2 — 7.9 7.7 
			 Hungary 7.8 — 7.4 7.5 
			 Ireland 8.2 — 7.9 8.4 
			 Italy 8.0 — 7.4 7.6 
			 Latvia 6.5 — 7.1 7.3 
			 Lithuania 7.0 — 7.5 7.5 
			 Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia — — 6.9 7.7 
			 Luxembourg 8.4 — 8.5 8.2 
			 Norway — — 8.0 — 
			 Malta 8.5 — 8.7 8.4 
			 Netherlands 7.7 — 7.8 7.8 
			 Poland 7.8 — 7.9 7.5 
			 Portugal 7.4 — 7.4 7.9 
			 Romania 8.1 — 7.8 8.3 
			 Slovakia 7.1 — 7.8 7.6 
			 Slovenia 7.7 — 7.9 7.8 
			 Spain 8.2 — 7.9 8.2 
			 Sweden 8.1 — 8.5 8.1 
			 Turkey 7.8 — 7.7 8.0 
			 United Kingdom 7.9 — 8.2 8.2 
			 EU-27 — — 7.9 7.8 
			 Notes: 1. Respondents were asked: please tell me how satisfied you are with your family life, using a scale from 1 to 10 where (1) means you are 'very dissatisfied' and (10) means you are 'very satisfied'? 2. EU15- EU member states prior to enlargement in 2004 (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom). 3. NMS12-12 new member states, 10 of which joined the EU in 2004 (Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) and the remaining to in 2007 (Bulgaria and Romania). 4. EU27—27 EU member states. 5. CC3—3 candidate countries—Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey. Source: Eurofound, European quality of life survey

Health

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what information his Department holds on the proportion of the people in the UK who rated their anxiety level as medium or low in each year for which figures are available.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated June 2013
	As Director General of the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what information his Department holds on the proportion of the people in the UK who rated their anxiety level as medium or low in each year for which figures are available (158975).
	The proportion of people in the UK who rated their anxiety level the previous day as medium or low was 60.0 per cent, the figures relate to the period between April 2011 and March 2012.
	A medium anxiety level is defined as a rating of 2 to 3 out of 10; a low anxiety level is defined as a rating of 0 to 1 out of 10.
	The information you are requesting has been used by the Office for National Statistics as part of our Measuring National Well-being Programme.
	The Programme was launched in November 2010 and the aim of the programme is to develop and publish an accepted and trusted set of National Statistics that helps people to understand and monitor national well-being. More details of the programme can be found at:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/user-guidance/well-being/index.html

Health

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what information his Department holds on the proportion of people in the UK who rated their happiness as medium or high in each year for which figures are available.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated June 2013
	As Director General of the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what information his Department holds on the proportion of people in the UK who rated their happiness as medium or high in each year for which figures are available. (158995).
	The proportion of people in the UK who rated their happiness level the previous day as medium or high was 71.0 percent, the figures relate to the period between April 2011 and March 2012.
	A medium happiness level is defined as a rating of 7 to 8 out of 10; a high happiness level is defined as a rating of 9 to 10 out of 10.
	The information you are requesting has been used by the Office for National Statistics as part of our Measuring National Well-being Programme.
	The Programme was launched in November 2010 and the aim of the programme is to develop and publish an accepted and trusted set of National Statistics that helps people to understand and monitor national well-being. More details of the programme can be found at:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/user-guidance/well-being/index.html

Health

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what information his Department holds on the proportion of people that were somewhat, mostly or completely satisfied with (a) their jobs and (b) the amount of leisure time they had in each year for which figures are available.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated June 2013
	As the Director General of the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office what information the Department holds on the proportion of people that were somewhat, mostly or completely satisfied with (a) their jobs and (b) the amount of leisure time they had in each year for which figures are available (159013).
	For those who were somewhat, mostly or completely satisfied with their (a) job and (b) amount of leisure time, we have data from 2002/03 to 2010/11. Please see the tables below:
	The data for 2009/10 and 2010/11 are taken from the Understanding Society survey and all earlier data has been taken from the British Household Panel Survey, (the predecessor to the Understanding Society survey). The data can be found at:
	http://www.esds.ac.uk/longitudinal/access/bhps/L33196.asp
	https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/
	The information you are requesting has been used by the Office for National Statistics as part of our Measuring National Well-being Programme. The data we hold for all measures of national well-being can be found in the Domains and Measures spreadsheet which is available here:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/user-guidance/well-being/index.html
	The Programme was launched in November 2010 and the aim of the programme is to develop and publish an accepted and trusted set of National Statistics that helps people to understand and monitor national well-being. More details of the programme can be found at:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/user-guidance/well-being/index.html
	
		
			 Percentage who were somewhat, mostly or completely satisfied with their job, United Kingdom 
			 Satisfaction with job(1) 
			 Percentages(2) 
			 Responses 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2003/09 2009/10(3,4) 2010/11(3,4) 
			 Somewhat, mostly or completely satisfied 68.8 70.8 70.3 70.0 70.6 70.3 71.9 77. 8 78.5 
			 Completely satisfied 11.9 12.1 11.5 11.9 11.3 11.0 11.5 18.5 16.9 
			 Mostly satisfied 25.6 29.5 26.2 27.7 27.7 29.2 30.1 42.9 42.9 
			 Somewhat satisfied 31.3 29.2 30.5 30.3 31.6 30.2 30.3 16.4 18.7 
			 Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied 15.7 15.5 16.3 15.6 15.8 15.9 15.6 7.0 7.2 
			 Somewhat dissatisfied 8.2 8.2 7.5 7.3 7.9 7.7 7.4 8.0 8.2 
			 Mostly dissatisfied 4.2 3.3 3.9 4.4 3.9 4.1 3.4 4.1 3.6 
			 Completely dissatisfied 3.0 2.2 2.1 2.8 1.7 2.0 1.8 3.1 2.3 
			 (1) Responses to “How dissatisfied or satisfied are you with........Your job (if in employment)” (2) The percentages are of those who responded. (3) Responses to earlier waves of the BHPS differ. However, they have always been on a 7 point scale varying from completely (or very) satisfied to completely (or very) dissatisfied. (4) 2009/10 data cannot be compared to previous years as sample size is different from previous survey. Source: British Panel Household Survey/Understanding Society 
		
	
	
		
			 Percentage who were somewhat, mostly or completely satisfied with their amount of leisure time, United Kingdom 
			 Satisfaction with amount of leisure time(1) 
			 Percentages(2) 
			 Responses 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006-07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10(3,4) 2010/11(3,4) 
			 Somewhat, mostly or completely satisfied 60.6 61.7 60.4 58.1 61.6 62.7 62.9 62.3 60.9 
			 Completely satisfied 20.9 18.2 17.6 17.5 18.5 17.2 18.0 15.5 16.1 
			 Mostly satisfied 17.6 19.2 19.2 17.6 19.0 20.4 20.8 26.5 25.9 
			 Somewhat satisfied 22.1 24.2 23.6 22.9 24.1 25.1 24.2 20.3 18.9 
			 Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied 18.8 18.8 18.8 19.0 19.0 18.6 18.7 12.9 13.7 
			 Somewhat dissatisfied 12.0 11.6 12.6 13.3 11.7 11.2 10.9 14.3 15.0 
			 Mostly dissatisfied 6.0 5.1 5.5 6.5 5.5 5.3 5.2 6.6 6.7 
			 Completely dissatisfied 2.6 2.8 2.7 3.2 2.3 2.1 2.3 3.9 3.7 
			 (1) Responses to “How dissatisfied or satisfied are you with.........The amount of leisure time you have”. (2) The percentages are of those who responded. (3) Responses to earlier waves of the BHPS differ. However, they have always been on a 7 point scale varying from completely (or very) satisfied to completely (or very) dissatisfied. (4) 2009/10 data cannot be compared to previous years as sample size is different from previous survey. Source: British Panel Household Survey/Understanding Society

Politics and Government

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what information his Department holds on the (a) number and (b) proportion of UK citizens who had trust in the Government in each year for which figures are available.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated June 2013
	As the Director General of the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office what information the Department holds on the (a) number and (b) proportion of UK citizens who had trust in the Government in each year available. (159056).
	For those with trust in the (UK) Government, we hold percentages for those who answer 'tend to trust'. Responses are as at spring and autumn each year from 2004 to 2012, please see the following table:
	The data have been taken from the Eurobarometer website which is the website for the Public Opinion Analysis sector of the European Commission. The data can be accessed by following the link detailed as follows:
	http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/index_en.htm
	The information you are requesting has been used by the Office for National Statistics as part of our Measuring National Well-being Programme.
	The Programme was launched in November 2010 and the aim of the programme is to develop and publish an accepted and trusted set of National Statistics that helps people to understand and monitor national well-being. More details of the programme can be found at:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/user-guidance/well-being/index.html
	
		
			 Percentage of those who have trust in national Government 
			  Trust(1) in national government, the national parliament, and the European Union (percentage 'who tend to trust') 
			  European Union National Parliament National Government 
			  EU UK EU UK EU UK 
			 Autumn 2004 50 35 38 37 34 32 
			 Spring 2005 44 27 35 36 31 34 
			 Autumn 2005 45 25 35 37 31 33 
			 Spring 2006 48 31 38 36 35 30 
			 Autumn 2006 45 26 33 29 30 24 
			 Spring 2007 57 36 43 41 41 34 
			 Autumn 2007 48 29 35 34 34 30 
			 Spring 2008 50 29 34 27 32 24 
			 Autumn 2008 47 25 34 30 34 29 
			 Spring 2009 47 22 32 17 32 21 
			 Autumn 2009 48 23 30 19 29 19 
			 Spring 2010 42 20 31 24 29 26 
			 Autumn 2010 43 20 31 27 28 28 
			 Spring 2011 41 24 33 29 32 32 
			 Autumn 2011 34 17 27 24 24 21 
			 Spring 2012 31 16 28 23 28 21 
			 Autumn 2012 33 20 28 26 27 25 
			 (1) Respondents were asked if they 'tend to trust' or 'trend to not trust' a range of institutions. Figures are for those who answered 'tend to trust'. Source: Eurobarometer

Public Sector: Mutual Societies

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much his Office has spent on the (a) administration of the Mutuals Taskforce and (b) supporting of new public sector mutuals since the formation of the Mutuals Taskforce.

Nick Hurd: The Mutuals Taskforce came together in February 2011 to support the creation and development of public service mutual. Officials in Cabinet Office provide a Secretariat function but there is no dedicated funding attached to the operation of the taskforce. Members of the taskforce participate on a pro-bono basis. Travel expenses totalling £1,527 have been reimbursed to the 11 members to support their activities.
	In addition, we have established a modest Mutuals Support Programme. To date, the Mutuals Support Programme, which includes the Mutuals Information Service, has awarded £2,303,852 of contracts, with a further £800,000 of support approved.

Public Sector: Procurement

John Robertson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office pursuant to the answers of 14 May 2013, Official Report, column 132W and 133W on public sector: procurement, when he last met the European Commission to discuss the proposed change to Article 19 of the European directive on the procurement of contracts for public works, public supply and public service.

Chloe Smith: The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, my right hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Mr Maude), visited Brussels on 8 May 2013.

Voluntary Work

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what proportion of people volunteered in each year for which figures are available.

Nick Hurd: Official Statistics published by the Cabinet Office on 25 April 2013 (cumulative findings from quarter 2 and 3 of the Community Life Survey—covering the period August 2012 to January 2013) show that the proportion of people undertaking formal or informal volunteering at least once a year now stands at 72%. This is an increase from 65% in 2010-11, with a similarly large increase in the proportion of people volunteering regularly (at least once a month). This reverses the decline in levels of volunteering in recent years. This information is available at:
	http://communitylife.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/
	Prior to the Community Life Survey, data on volunteering were published via the Citizenship Survey which ran between 2001-2011. This information is available here:
	http://communitylife.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/explore-the-data.html

WORK AND PENSIONS

Atos Healthcare

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much Atos will receive from contracts held with his Department in each of the next three years.

Mark Hoban: We are unable to comment on the forecast expenditure for the Atos contracts because they are subject to change. However, the total contract values are estimated to be as follows:
	
		
			 Contract name Start date End date Estimated contract value (£) 
			 Medical Services 1 September 2005 31 August 2015 983,000,000 
			 Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Assessment Service (Lot 1) 31 July 2012 30 July 2017 206,703,507 
			 Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Assessment Service (Lot 3) 31 July 2012 30 July 2017 183,894,556 
			 Occupational Health 4 August 2008 2 August 2013 12,000,000 
			 enGage Government Gateway 1 March 2006 31 March 2014 200,000,000 
			 Mandatory Work Activity 30 July 2012 31 March 2015 3,112,164

Capita

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department currently spends on contracts with Capita; and how much was spent in each year since 2008.

Mark Hoban: Since 1 January 2008, the Capita group of companies have held sixteen Department for Work and Pensions contracts. The total value of those contracts is £586,448,589.
	Of those sixteen contracts, twelve are still live and they have a total value of £584,508,318.
	Since January 2011, central Government Departments have been required to publish on Contracts Finder information on the contracts they award:
	www.contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk/
	In addition, departments publish details of spend in excess of £25,000.

Children: Maintenance

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many parents in (a) Barnsley Central constituency, (b) South Yorkshire and (c) England use the child maintenance service.

Steve Webb: We are carefully observing results of the 2012 scheme, administered by the Child Maintenance Service, and progress so far has been good. However, we are not yet in a position to release statistics. When system data become available and fully assured they will be released as part of a managed process, which will be pre-announced and in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
	The following table shows, as of March 2013, the number of 1993 and 2003 scheme cases administered by the Child Support Agency in Barnsley Central, South Yorkshire and England.
	
		
			 Area Number of cases 
			 Barnsley central constituency 2,350 
			 South Yorkshire 29,750 
			 England 944,090 
			 Notes: 1. The question has been interpreted as the number of live and assessed cases. 2. South Yorkshire has been calculated by adding up the totals for Barnsley, Doncaster, Sheffield and Rotherham local authorities. 3. England has been calculated by adding up the totals for each parliamentary constituency in England. 4. Cases are allocated to a parliamentary constituency or local authority by matching the parent with care's residential postcode to the Office for National Statistics Postcode Directory. 5. Figures rounded to nearest 10 6. Figures have been rated to include off system performance.

Domestic Violence

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the number of victims of domestic violence in each local authority who have been rehoused as a result of a Multi-Age Risk Assessment Conference and in consequence are under-occupying.

Steve Webb: The information requested is not available.

Employment

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  if he will make an assessment of the employment rate of (a) the working-age male population and (b) all male persons over the age of 16, in the first quarter of 2013 compared with the first quarter of 2008 for (i) each constituent part and region of the UK and (ii) each parliamentary constituency; and what the gap in the number of jobs between the higher and lower of these two figures is in each case;
	(2)  if he will make an assessment of the employment rate of (a) the working-age female population and (b) all female persons over the age of 16, in the first quarter of 2013 compared with the first quarter of 2008 for (i) each constituent part and region of the UK and (ii) each parliamentary constituency; and what the gap in the number of jobs between the higher and lower of these two figures is in each case;
	(3)  if he will make an assessment of the employment rate of (a) the working-age population and (b) all persons over the age of 16, in the first quarter of 2013 compared with the first quarter of 2008 for (i) each constituent part and region of the UK and (ii) each parliamentary constituency; and what the gap in the number of jobs between the higher and lower of these two figures is in each case.

Nick Hurd: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Cabinet Office.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated June 2013
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions asking the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for the employment rate of (a) the working-age male population and (b) all male persons over the age of 16, in the first quarter of 2013 compared with the first quarter of 2008 for (i) each constituent part and region of the UK and (ii) each parliamentary constituency; and what the gap in the number of jobs between the higher and lower of these two figures is in each case (159215)
	The employment rate of (a) the working-age female population and (b) all female persons over the age of 16, in the first quarter of 2013 compared with the first quarter of 2008 for (i) each constituent part and region of the UK and (ii) each parliamentary constituency; and what the gap in the number of jobs between the higher and lower of these two figures is in each case. (159216);
	The employment rate of (a) the working-age population and (b) all persons over the age of 16, in the first quarter of 2013 compared with the first quarter of 2008 for (i) each constituent part and region of the UK and (ii) each parliamentary constituency; and what the gap in the number of jobs between the higher and lower of these two figures is in each case (159217).
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles employment statistics for local areas from the Annual Population Survey (APS) following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions and for regions and the UK from the Labour Force Survey (LFS).
	Tables 1 to 6 give the number and percentage of people, men and women who were employed according to survey responses, for the requested age bands for the 12 month periods ending December 2008 and December 2012, the latest available period, along with the change between these two periods from the APS for all parliamentary constituencies for Great Britain. Estimates for UK and its constituent regions have also been supplied for comparison purposes. Estimates for parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland are not available directly from this source.
	Tables 7 to 12 show the number and percentage of people, men and women who were employed according to survey responses, for the requested age bands for the periods January to March 2008 and January to March 2013, along with the change between these-two periods from the LFS for the UK and its constituent regions.
	As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS and LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty. A guide to the quality of the estimates is given in the tables based on survey results.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	As this data is extensive, a copy has been place in the Library of the House.

Employment and Support Allowance

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what proportion of employment and support allowance claimants with mental illness have been referred to treatments within the NHS or with subcontractors in the last period for which figures are available;
	(2)  what proportion of employment and support allowance claimants are mentally ill; how many of such claimants have been referred for treatment; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: Working with people with who have mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety, we aim to help them rebuild their confidence so they are able to participate in the labour market in a way that is appropriate for them as individuals. However, the Department does not refer employment and support allowance claimants with mental health conditions for treatment.

Food Banks

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make an assessment of whether welfare changes and benefit delay, error and sanctions have led to an increase in people using food banks since 2010.

Mark Hoban: The Department for Work and Pensions does not hold or collect information of referrals to or usage of food banks.

Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make an estimate of the amounts paid out in discretionary housing payments by each local authority in England, Wales and Scotland to local residents in March, April and May (a) 2012 and (b) 2013.

Steve Webb: This information is not available.
	The Department currently only receives annualised summary data on discretionary housing payments and does not hold details relating to monthly payments.

Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the proportion of the annual allocation in respect of discretionary housing payments for the current financial year which each local authority in England, Wales and Scotland spent on such payments to local residents in April and May (a) 2012 and (b) 2013.

Steve Webb: This information is not available.
	The Department currently only receives annualised summary data on discretionary housing payments and does not hold details relating to monthly payments.

Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of service personnel affected by the Housing Benefit (Amendment) Regulations 2013 (SI 2003 No. 665).

Steve Webb: The information requested is not available.
	The Department is unable to make an estimate from survey data of non-dependant armed services personnel normally residing with working age housing benefit claimants in the social sector as the sample size is too small. As a result estimates would be subject to a high degree of sampling error. Furthermore, administrative data relating to employer details of non-dependants of housing benefit households are not gathered as it is not necessary for the administration of the benefit.

Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what guidance he has given to local authorities on whether and how a panic room would be taken into account in the under-occupation rules.

Steve Webb: We issued guidance on the removal of the spare room subsidy to local authorities in July last year. This guidance did not refer to panic rooms, as we do not define what is meant by a bedroom in legislation. It is for the landlord to accurately describe the property in line with the actual rent charged.
	An extra £25 million has been allocated in addition to the £20 million baseline discretionary housing payment funding to specifically help those who live in specially adapted homes.
	There is no definition of significantly adapted accommodation. It is up to local authorities to decide, based on local knowledge and individual circumstances. This could include installation of a panic room.

Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to monitor the effect of the under-occupation rules on the safety of victims of domestic violence who have been rehoused in properties which they are deemed to under-occupy.

Steve Webb: The Department has commissioned a consortium led by Ipsos MORI to undertake an independent monitoring of the introduction of the removal of the spare room subsidy measure.
	The measure will be monitored and evaluated over a two-year period from April this year. Initial findings will be available in 2014 and the final report in late 2015.
	The evaluation and monitoring will include effects of the measures on supply issues; rural impacts; people unable to share rooms (couples, disabled children); foster carers; prospective adopters and prospective special guardians.
	The research will also consider the impact on vulnerable individuals; financial status; health and wellbeing; family life and social networks.

Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment his Department has made of the practicality of requiring the chain of command of a member of the armed forces to confirm that he or she is deployed overseas for purposes of securing an exemption to the under-occupancy penalty during such a deployment.

Steve Webb: The Department has issued guidance to local authorities on the action to take when a claimant advises that an adult child who is normally a member of their household is a member of the armed forces deployed on operations. The Ministry of Defence were consulted about the guidance and agreed with the approach it outlined.
	Early indications are that as expected the number of cases where this action has been taken is extremely low.

Legal Costs

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the 20 highest amounts paid for external legal advice by his Department were in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012; to whom such payments were paid; and for what reasons the legal advice was sought.

Mark Hoban: Information relating to the amount paid for external legal advice is not recorded in the form of calendar years. The figures in the tables therefore show the 20 highest amounts paid in legal fees for the 2010-11, the 2011-12 and the 2012-13 financial years. In addition, it is not possible to distinguish between fees paid for legal advice and fees paid for legal representation without incurring disproportionate cost so these figures represent the total legal spend for both advice and representation.
	The purpose for which the advice or representation was requested could only be ascertained by interrogation of individual files and this would incur disproportionate cost.
	
		
			 2010-11 
			 Supplier Paid (£) 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 351,628.14 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 298,665.80 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 276,353.19 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 263,765.40 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 257,573.35 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 227,199.40 
			 Bindmans LLP 210,000.00 
			 Harper Macleod LLP 193,000.00 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 180,464.32 
			 Harper Macleod LLP 152,636.24 
			 Harper Macleod LLP 114,352.00 
			 Harper Macleod LLP 113,624.22 
			 Harper Macleod LLP 108,207.23 
			 Harper Macleod LLP 103,329.29 
			 Harper Macleod LLP 100,000.00 
			 Harper Macleod LLP 97,500.00 
			 Harper Macleod LLP 96,500.00 
			 Harper Macleod LLP 96,500.00 
			 Harper Macleod LLP 96,500.00 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 95,382.39 
		
	
	
		
			 2011-12 
			 Supplier Paid (£) 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 242,046.81 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 235,000.00 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 230,353.45 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 224,324.07 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 213,476.95 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 212,848.42 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 204,022.60 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 203,844.49 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 198,546.45 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 190,119.30 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 187,561.53 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 184,078.83 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 179,348.95 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 177,998.20 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 177,595.78 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 151,347.40 
			 3Volution LLP 142,750.00 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 141,229.79 
			 Harper Macleod LLP 96,500.00 
			 Harper Macleod LLP 96,500.00 
		
	
	
		
			 2012-13 
			 Supplier Paid (£) 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 180,946.80 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 143,724.15 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 132,800.81 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 127,131.40 
		
	
	
		
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 123,479.05 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 115,286.10 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 112,952.63 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 112,226.53 
			 A Evans 110,716.80 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 108,535.90 
			 Bird and Bird LLP 99,882.70 
			 Harper Macleod LLP 99,500.00 
			 Harper Macleod LLP 97,500.00 
			 Harper Macleod LLP 96,500.00 
			 Harper Macleod LLP 96,500.00 
			 Harper Macleod LLP 96,500.00 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 88,220.75 
			 Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP 86,388.40 
			 Harper Macleod LLP 83,725.00 
			 Harper Macleod LLP 82,875.00

Legal Costs

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department spent on external legal advice from Queen's Counsel (a) between 7 May 2010 and 4 September 2012 and (b) since 4 September 2012.

Mark Hoban: Our consolidated records of legal spend do not identify which barristers are Queen's Counsel and which are junior Counsel. In addition, some Counsel were appointed to the rank of Queen's Counsel part-way through the relevant periods. Answering this question would therefore involve looking at individual invoices for these factors and would incur disproportionate cost.

Legal Costs

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the highest day rate paid for external legal advice by his Department since 7 May 2010 was.

Mark Hoban: External legal advice is charged on the basis of an hourly rate, as opposed to a daily rate. However, we only record the full invoice amount on our finance system. In order to establish the highest day rate paid for external legal advice, we would need to look at every individual invoice and this would incur disproportionate cost.

Social Security Benefits

Andy Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to shorten the time taken to process appeals against decisions of the employment and support allowance and disability living allowance departments.

Esther McVey: DWP and HMCTS are working closely to introduce improvements to the disputes and appeals process. Mandatory reconsideration will improve the disputes process and effectively shorten the journey for all DWP-administered benefits, not just those referred to, by making sure that as many disputes as possible are resolved without the need to appeal.
	The introduction of direct lodgement means that anyone who still wishes to appeal following a mandatory reconsideration will need to submit their appeal directly to HMCTS, instead of going through DWP. This will speed up and clarify the appeals process. The current arrangement, where claimants submit their appeal to a DWP decision maker who transfers the appeal to HMCTS, causes delays in arranging tribunals, and confusion for people who may not realise which organisation is responsible for their appeal at any point.
	The introduction of time limits for appeals responses will provide people with a timeframe within which they can expect DWP to process the response to an individual appeal.

Social Security Benefits

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effects of (a) benefit payment delays, (b) errors in benefit payments and (c) sanctions on levels of food poverty.

Mark Hoban: holding answer 10 June 2013
	We have no evidence that the welfare system has had a negative impact on food poverty in the UK. The current welfare reforms and introduction of universal credit will simplify the system considerably, helping further minimise delays and errors in payment as well as ensuring families are better off in work. Our aim is to pay people the benefits to which they are entitled accurately and on time and this happens in the overwhelming majority of cases. Benefit sanctions are applied only in appropriate circumstances, i.e. where the claimant was made fully aware of what was required of them and the potential consequences of failing to comply, a genuine doubt has been identified and a decision made in the light of all available information, including that provided by the claimant.

Social Security Benefits

Shaun Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people (a) currently receive disability living allowance and (b) are expected to receive the personal independence payment in 2013-14 in (i) St Helens South and Whiston constituency, (ii) Merseyside and (iii) England.

Esther McVey: The available information on personal independence payment recipients in 2013-14 is published in the budget tables available at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/expenditure_tables_Budget_2013.xls
	Information on current disability living allowance case loads at a parliamentary constituency, regional and local authority level can also be found on the Department's website at:
	http://83.244.183.180/100pc/tabtool.html

Social Security Benefits: EU Nationals

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the oral answer of 20 May 2013, Official Report, column 890, on benefits (immigration), what estimate he has made of the number of EEA/EU jobseekers and workers who (a) are involuntarily unemployed and (b) do not have a genuine chance of finding a job within six months.

Mark Hoban: Currently we are unable to estimate the number of EEA/EU jobseekers and workers who are involuntarily unemployed and do not have genuine chance of finding a job within six months, as the nationality and immigration status of benefit claimants is not recorded as part of the payment administrative systems.
	Looking forward, the Government is looking at ways to record nationality ,and immigration status of migrants who make a claim to universal credit so that we have more robust management information about our claimants.

Social Security Benefits: EU Nationals

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the oral answer of 20 May 2013, Official Report, column 890, on benefits (immigration), what estimate he has made of the number of EU citizens from outside the UK who have no entitlement to work in the UK but are currently claiming contributory benefits.

Mark Hoban: It is not currently possible to produce estimates of the numbers of EU citizens who are claiming contributory benefits. This is because whilst currently we check the nationality and immigration status of benefit claimants to ensure the benefit is paid properly and to prevent fraud; this information is not recorded as part of the payment administrative systems.
	Contributory benefits, such as contribution based jobseeker's allowance and employment and support allowance, are payable to anyone who satisfies the contribution and other conditions for the benefit, regardless of nationality. Generally someone would need to have been working and paying national insurance in the UK for around two years to qualify for contributory benefits. For example an EU national who has a legal right to reside in the UK as a worker who becomes temporarily unemployed, or temporarily incapacitated, may qualify for contributory jobseeker's allowance or employment and support allowance on this basis.

Social Security Benefits: Mental Illness

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment was made of the effects of the Welfare Reform Act 2013 on those experiencing difficulties with their mental health.

Mark Hoban: A series of impact assessments were carried out for the measures introduced under the Welfare Reform Act 2012. The assessments consider the equality groups covered by the equality legislation including: disability (including physical and mental impairment); age; gender (transgender); ethnicity; religion; sexual orientation; pregnancy/maternity; and civil partnerships. We are committed to monitoring the impacts of our policies and use evidence from a number of sources on the experiences and outcomes of the protected groups.

State Retirement Pensions

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the amounts of the 10 largest state pensions paid to individuals are in the latest year for which figures are available.

Steve Webb: As at November 2012, the 10 largest state pensions paid to individuals were above £450 per week.
	Notes:
	1. The 10 highest amounts received by the 12.8 million state pension recipients are by their very nature atypical. In the main these ten people were receiving all components of the state pension either in their own right or with some inherited amounts which included an increase derived from a significant period of deferral. The various components include graduated retirement benefit, basic and additional pension and, in some cases, an adult dependency increase.
	2. 99% of state pension recipients at that date received a weekly amount of £240 or less.
	3. Individual amounts have not been supplied, as they would be potentially disclosive, when combined with other information.
	Source:
	DWP Information, Governance and Security, Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study

Unemployment: Older People

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to help unemployed people over the age of 64 years in (a) Paisley and Renfrewshire North constituency, (b) Scotland and (c) the UK return to work.

Mark Hoban: Advisers in local Jobcentres now have the flexibility to offer all claimants, including older people, a comprehensive menu of help which includes skills provision and job search support. All claimants who are long term unemployed can access the tailored, back to work support, on offer from the Work Programme.

Universal Credit

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  if he will carry out an impact assessment for the introduction of housing costs contributions under universal credit;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the potential effects on levels of youth homelessness of the introduction of housing costs contributions under universal credit.

Steve Webb: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave the hon. Member for Bradford East (Mr Ward), on 6 June 2013, Official Report, column 1252W.

Universal Credit

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of potential savings to the public purse arising from the introduction of housing costs contributions under universal credit.

Steve Webb: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave the hon. Member for Bradford East (Mr Ward), on 5 June 2013, Official Report, columns 1214-15W.

Universal Credit

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households will be affected by the introduction of housing costs contributions in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK.

Steve Webb: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave the hon. Member for Glasgow North East (Mr Bain), on 3 June 2013, Official Report, columns 1050-52W.

Universal Credit: North West

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on what date jobcentres in (a) Wigan, (b) Warrington and (c) Oldham will start to accept applications for universal credit.

Mark Hoban: holding answer 10 June 2013
	We are on track with the successful roll-out of pathfinder. As we announced earlier this year, Wigan, Warrington and Oldham Jobcentres will start taking claims during July.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many individuals are expected to return to the supervision of Jobcentre Plus by 30 June 2013 having completed two years on the Work programme.

Mark Hoban: Projections of people expected to take up post-Work programme support would be based on data the Department plans to release as official statistics. We are therefore unable to provide estimates in response to this PQ without compromising the integrity of the statistical release.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of jobseekers returning to Jobcentre Plus after being on the Work programme for two years have received a sanction in the last two years.

Mark Hoban: The information requested is not currently available. The data required are not yet ready for analysis.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which jobcentres will have a specialist adviser working with people who have returned to Jobcentre Plus after two years on the Work programme.

Mark Hoban: All jobcentres have made arrangements to ensure that there are advisers in place with the necessary skills to help support these claimants returning from the Work programme after two years.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which jobseekers returning from the Work programme will be expected to meet their Jobcentre Plus advisor each day.

Mark Hoban: Advisers will consider a number of interventions for use with claimants on a case by case basis.
	Advisers may choose to call in claimants daily for a number of reasons, including:
	to test compliance, e.g. time keeping;
	to improve motivation, self-confidence, and work ethic; and
	to follow up regular activities the adviser has set the claimant.
	Jobcentres receive employer vacancies on a daily basis. Claimants who attend the Jobcentre more often have early access to such opportunities and may be referred straight away if suitable.